Captain Marvel Review

Hey, this is Steve Blum, and you are listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. Hello and welcome

to another episode of the Cinema Geeks. I am

one of your Cinema Geeks optimists, Solo, and

joining me today is the writer extraordinaire,

Hard Candy Mandy. Hello? Oh, God! Oh, Jesus.

Um, movie revolve, Dan, hello. Hey, how's it

going? Not too bad. And Mr. Fridley's son. Yeah,

I'm on this one. You're on this one. And today

we are bringing you a movie review of the latest

in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That's right,

we're talking about Captain Marvel. You've heard

the rest, now hear the best. So, uh, I don't

know what number of Marvel film is this, Dan?

21, I believe. 21 all right the 21st film in

the Marvel Cinematic Universe and we're gonna

be giving you our thoughts on that as well as

some spoiler talk and maybe Check your guys's

anticipation level for Avengers after seeing

this one. So let's just go into it Amanda with

your Feelings as you were headed towards this

one. What was kind of your anticipation level

for Captain Marvel? I expected it to be pretty

bombastic and have like a ton of nostalgia and

just be this rock -out girl power movie that

I was gonna have a ton of fun with to set up

this amazing ultimate character that we're gonna

be seeing more of in Endgame. And really that's

what it turned out to be is a huge fucking setup

movie. Alright. Dan, what was your anticipation

level and what was your initial reaction to this

one? I didn't know what my full anticipation

was. I wasn't really in love with a lot of the

trailers per se. I would think my biggest anticipation

was just seeing how B. B. Larson was going to

be able to take on the role of the character

and what exactly they were going to do with it.

And I thought that's where his biggest success

was with B. Larson in the creation of the character

of Captain Marvel and what it means moving forward.

So I ended up walking out relatively happy compared

to my expectation level. Same question to you,

Matt. What was your anticipation level and your

first reaction? Oh, boy. My anticipation level

was probably extraordinarily high. Captain Marvel,

and before that, Mrs. Marvel, is the only one

I could think of of all of these Marvel movies

that those were the comics I'd subscribe to.

Like, I don't get Captain America or Iron Man.

And actually, the time I got Avengers was The

Mighty Avengers, when she was actually the leader

of the Avengers. So like, I had a lot of history

with this character, so I had a really high hopes

for finally seeing her on the big screen. And

I mean, I wasn't upset when I came out of that

theater. Alright, excellent. So Dan, you brought

up the whole Brie Larson and kind of if she was

going to be able to pull it off or not. So let's

just jump off with that. Amanda, how do you feel

like Brie Larson did in the role and how did

you like the character specifically? I mean,

I don't have any of the source material to base

her off of. So I don't really, you know, I can't

speak to that end of it, but I think her in this

character was a good fit. I think that I liked

her humor and her style and her vibes, but I

also found myself really wanting to be her. Dude,

you are so cool in every situation. You just

go into that knowing that you can just punch

anybody's face out of existence. That can make

you pretty cocky and make you think you can just

pull off anything. You probably can. I wish I

had that kind of confidence, but I also wish

I could punch anybody's face into oblivion that

I wanted. For those that pay attention to film

Twitter or listen to you know movie review podcasts

and whatnot you've probably heard some of the

Talk about her character some people complaining

that it might be a little bit too deadpan to

cardboard things like that other people that

really appreciated her humor and kind of the

Sarcasm in her in her jokes and some of her lines,

etc How do you feel like it all boiled down for

you for Brie Larson? Here's the thing. I don't

know that I've ever had a movie where I'm like,

oh man, I don't really know if I think that character

is like that. So I don't know if I'm the best

person to ask this. I had no problems. As someone

though that has a lot of source material to back,

you've read comics on her, you have a lot of

history, did it fit your vision of what that

character was in your mind? Well... Whether to

the detriment or benefit of the character, she's

been written by so many different authors. She's

definitely hit one of those authors' vision.

I thought it worked in the movies. I was not

watching it going like, I wouldn't believe that

she'd react like that. She's not responding normally.

I thought it was fine. I thought her character

choices were great and totally fitting. Excellent.

Another thing that I've heard Dan is that some

people were upset because they felt like she

wasn't the She wasn't the star of the show some

people saying that Sam Jackson stole it from

her or some of the other side characters I don't

know if I buy that one. I thought she was pretty

magnetic when she was on screen. What did you

think? Yeah, I mean, I think she had she worked

well with Samuel L Jackson and you had to roll

the play But I don't I don't think I think the

movie was her film. It was her story like everything

really plot wise narrative wise was supporting

that and you know thematically aligned to kind

of bolster her character so yeah i don't necessarily

think anything really stole her thunder maybe

supported it a little bit i i think you know

overall her performance was pretty solid like

i've read a decent amount of capital marvel books

and like matt mentioned like she doesn't to me

like have a definitive personality per se it's

not like i i I think that's what I was really

looking forward to is like I thought this we

could help really define it a little bit because

it has differed depending on who who writes her

and sometimes she's a bit more authoritative

sometimes she's just you know written like more

like Captain America sometimes she's written

more like Tony Stark I thought this did a good

balance and just kind of letting P. Larson take

the role. She's very measured in her responses.

She has a different type of personality. Honestly,

like the word that comes to mind is weird. She's

weird, but like in a good way, which makes sense.

You know, she's legitimately an alien kind of

in a way. And I think too that like there's a

little bit more nuance with the way she takes

on the character than, you know, I love all the

other performances in the MCU, but you can pretty

much really define who they are. their personalities

are pretty drastic, like a Tony Stark, this snarkiness,

Captain America, the nobleness. I guess Thor,

depending on if it's Ragnarok, Thor or what have

you, but I thought with her, she's a little bit

of everything in a way. And I think considering

that she might be the main focus moving forward,

it makes sense because she can adjust and fit

the situation really well. So I don't necessarily

just... the type of personality, like it's Tony

Stark that's gonna walk in the room and take

it over, but she'll assess it and be able to

kind of snipe and have those callbacks and she'll

hold her own, but she doesn't necessarily feel

the need to call attention to herself, which

I thought was a little bit different. Yeah, I

agree. Another thing I really liked about Captain

Marvel in this film as a character is that so

many times when we have a character that is...

finding their own, figuring out who they are,

not necessarily coming of age, but somewhat coming

into their own identity. A lot of times in movies,

we get that ongoing internal strife and broodingness

and the fact that they're constantly struggling

with what side are they on or who they are or

this, that, and the other. And I appreciated

that this movie for a lot of, it was a lot more

subtle with that, I felt like. She was who she

was from the beginning and I liked that she wasn't

necessarily dealing with a lot of like internal

turmoil so to speak like you can see that even

in like the some of the First act sequences where

she's training and whatnot like she from the

get -go does not want to hold back. She doesn't

want to restrain herself. She doesn't want to,

you know, she wants to let her abilities and

powers fly for lack of a better term. So I kind

of appreciated that because I think that would

have brought the film down a little bit if she

was always struggling with her decisions and

she was a much more impulsive and trusting her

gut and trusting her instincts. At least that's

what I kind of came across with from the movie.

Amanda, what did you feel? Yeah, I think that

since her origin, Was not just kind of thrown

at us immediately like we kind of had to work

our way into that It we had to you know, just

kind of feel her and her intentions out so I

think that it it definitely worked for me trying

to you know decide if I was on her side or not,

but trying to figure out whose side everybody

else was on was the confusing part. Before we

get to that, going back to you, Dan, speaking

of the first act, since we kind of brought that

up, I know in some initial thoughts, even my

own, that I felt like maybe the first act was

the weakest part of the film and that I didn't...

Start having a lot of fun until later on in the

movie I don't know if it was the number of places

that we were visiting or the Some of the flashback

sequences or whatnot But it felt like for me

it took a little while for the movie to kind

of get up and gain its feet footing How did you

feel about the first act and some of the pacing

through that and going through there? Yeah, I

think it's kind of the challenge of the story

you're telling when you have this amnesic Aspect

where things are purposely being hidden from

her. So with that it It's nothing limited in

what it can do without kind of tipping its hand

a little bit too much So I do think it was a

little bit murky and trying to find it's finding

a little bit also especially like the first really

bigger action sequence the one that's on is ago

and they can investigate this alien planet I

thought was just did not look really bad. Honestly,

like the the setting the the staging of it. In

the CGI, I thought overall for the film wasn't

fantastic. There were some good moments. I mean,

the aging technology is pretty impressive, and

I feel like they spent so much money on that

that some of the bits like the opening sequence

weren't necessarily great. It didn't necessarily

wow you, but I think I do wonder if going back

and rewatching it, you'll just notice a few more

things because it... There's a lot of foreshadowing,

and there's a lot of foreshadowing that we don't

have much context for, so I wonder with that

context if it would be an improvement, but at

first go around, it's a little shaky. Matt, what

did you feel about that opening war battle sequence

or any of the pre -earth stuff that you got in

the first act of the movie? I really liked that

first bit. if only because it shows you just

how scary the Skrulls are, right? They can be

anyone, they can be anywhere, and now they can

read minds, and I liked that storyline -wise.

I do think there was some weirdness in there,

though. There was this quality of... can they

talk to each other can't they talk to each other

because it seems like some characters could hear

other characters but then other characters couldn't

hear each other um and i i don't know i had a

bunch of little things like that where it's like

well what about this part like why was jud law

not blue everyone was blue but jud law yeah what

was up with that why is he not blue i don't have

i think they were showing that like my assessment

because on that train Is that you know, there's

a mixture of different like you'd some career

blues some are not, uh, you know, because there's

the What's I can't think of his name, but he

wasn't guardians of the galaxy. Um wasn't there's

Oh, no, we're on it. Well, yeah we're on in but

like so I think Similar to how the yes guardians

have, uh, you know different ethnicities My assumption

is that that's what it was trying to show as

well. But you're talking Okay You're talking

about korath, uh Maybe Hansu German Hansu. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay Anybody else any thoughts about

you know, kind of those early on sequences with

Brie Larson training with Jude Law or anything

Honestly, I wanted more of her on the Cree planet

Like I wanted to get more of this set up like

why should we want her to be on their side? Okay,

you know why? Why is she or you know set up more

of why she's so quick to turn against them? even

though she's been with them for six freaking

years and they like took her in like give us

give us something more to help decide like To

give us a reason to pick either side really or

to back her on her decision matter Dan any reactions

to that or any other thoughts about life on Cree?

I do like the fighting sequence and what it sets

up for later in the movie Like the herd and Jude

law training and everything. Yeah Yeah, I appreciate

that especially the the like I said the bits

where it shows that she's not willing to kind

of constrain her powers and Just blast them across

the room. Like I thought that was a good moment

For sure Dan any other thoughts before we kind

of move on to earth Yeah, I think what it did

do well though to show that she has a character

has a lot of uncertainty right from the get -go

You know showing that she clearly doesn't know

a lot of things. She's There's a lot of you know,

the how they utilize the supreme intelligence,

which I was kind of hoping we would see that

in the in the comics This is psychotic floating

head. Well, I was hoping that would eventually

happen, but they could still do that in the future

but I thought though I thought that was was really

successful and like Matt mentioned how it did

set up the little rivalry between Jude Law and

In Captain Marvel or Carol Danvers or for I think

Fierce, fierce, but yeah. Okay, so obviously

we then transition to a crash landing on Earth,

or I forget the code name that they called it

in the movie, something, a letter call signer.

See, it's like numbers and letters. Yeah, planets,

something, something, something. So obviously

the movie takes place in the 90s, and we get

a big dose of that as they crash through a blockbuster

as our first sequence into what we're gonna be

transitioning to, which is the action on Earth.

How did you guys feel like the 90s references,

cues, whether it be musical or visual, how do

you think they handled that? Did they show enough

restraint? Was it too many, or what did you think

about those types of things, Dan? I do think

it was a mixed bag, to be honest. I thought the

music at times worked, but I thought the need

to put her in grunge clothes was maybe a step

unnecessarily too far. Um, but you know, I, I

think they certainly leaned in a little bit to

the nineties. I was surprised. I was waiting

for more of a poll, like more pulp fiction, uh,

uh, call the callbacks references, but there

wasn't really as many. So I thought it was fine.

Like except for his hairline. Yeah, true. Uh,

I, uh, I did think though, the, there was, they,

they got some good gangs out of it, especially

when it came to like technology and stuff like

that. Um, but they, you know, I guess you could

argue that they maybe leaned a little too heavily

on it. Was worried at first because just with

the initial thing being right into the blockbuster

I'm like, oh my goodness We're about to be overloaded

with 90 stuff and I felt like they kind of like

pulled back immediately after that and kind of

calm down a little bit I did appreciate like

you're talking about the the internet joke or

the loading the file loading joke or whatever

it was And some of those things and some of the

musical cues later on I was worried at first,

but I thought they handled it better than I was

Thinking they were going to Amanda. Did you appreciate

it? Did you pick up on any other 90s references

that you liked? Yeah, I'm looking at gonna now

I can't even hardly remember any others besides

those couple delete the pager thing and You know

the payphone the blockbuster That kind of thing

but other than like the the songs and her clothes

there really wasn't much at all And I wanted

more just cuz that's my favorite Nostalgia stuff

is the 90s. So of course I wanted more I didn't

didn't need it to be, you know corny But I wanted

a little bit more just so I can see life back

then You know what I mean? So it was I wanted

to see more life on Cree, but I also wanted to

see more life in the 90s You want a 40 -hour

Captain Marvel She did another hour at least

Matt. What do you think of any of that stuff

today that we brought up? Yeah, like I you know

I'm the exact same age as Amanda. Like our birthdays

are less than a month apart, right? Or no, they're

like five months apart. And like, uh, so like

I was rocking every reference they were doing.

Like I had no complaints with that. Um, I thought

they did a good job of, uh, of giving her some

flannel and then taking it away. Check out that

flannel. I'm like, I like the flannel. I don't

I do I do agree that it's felt really weird that

like she's in this like, you know the armored

bodysuit and then she looks at a Mannequin in

a window and then we just cut to her wearing

grunge gear and like it's like what where the

where did her regular clothes go? But then they're

back later? I mean, it's just another one of

those questions that I have, like, oh, what about

this? Did she have a Mary Poppins bag? Like,

where was that shit? Did she have it underneath

that? Like, what did she really have? Yeah. It's

like when Optimus Prime transforms, you don't

know where the trailer went. Oh, geez. I had

to do that. All right. So obviously, once we

get to Earth, we are introduced to some more

characters that we're going to have along with

the ride. You know, for the rest of the way,

we get Samuel L. Jackson, which we briefly mentioned.

We get Ben Mendelsohn as Keller or Talis and

a few other things. So, Dan, how did you feel

like those characters added to the film? What

did you like or dislike about the cast that we

get once we're on Earth? I thought the cast was

pretty strong, honestly, and I'm a huge Ben and

Olsen fan. I think he's done a lot of great work.

He does have a tendency to, and I don't know,

are we doing any type of spoilers that I don't

wanna like? I mean, we could maybe save some

of them for a little bit. Okay. But I'll just

say I liked the direction of his character and

where it went. And the more we got from him,

I thought the better it actually became. Like

I mentioned earlier, I thought Samuel L. Jackson

and Brie Larson, I guess they became a little

bit chummy really quickly, but I was glad that

when she comes to Earth, the debate, is she really

crazy? Is she not? And I was worried that that

was going to be the major focus was her trying

to convince him and everything, but the fact

that they dealt with that immediately, I thought

was the right move. I do like to like they seem

to be building a lot of possible things for the

future and I thought to the the one act the actress

that kind of you know solo show or was my biggest

surprise was Lashana Lynch who played Maria Lambeau

in her relationship with with with Carol Danvers

I thought that was probably the emotional core

in the direction of her character and how it

again kind of furthered the theme of this going

against the norm and breaking against kind of

the societal restraints that are often put upon

people I thought how that her character supported

that was a welcome surprise and So and again

sets a lot up for the future without I think

being too Overt with it. So yeah, the one I think

Marvel's movie strength is that they do tend

to have pretty solid cast and I would That's

really different here Absolutely met speaking

of Samuel Jackson obviously 25 years be you know

de -aged I guess you could say that they did

with that How did you feel that worked in his

interactions with? Captain Marvel is kind of

being the main person that is she's gonna play

off of I Had you know again, maybe I'm not I

don't know the best eyes for this I had no problem

with Sam Jackson or Colson like Clark Gregg.

I thought I thought they both totally fit. They're

both very believable. So like that worked for

me. Yeah, I didn't have any problems with it

either. I was just buying it on locksink. Amanda,

there was a cat in this film. What do you feel

about the cat? No, there wasn't. That's not a

cat. I like the cat jokes, I thought it was pretty

funny, I dug it. I think Fury was a little over

the top of the cat, but I also think that was

part of his shtick in this one, so it worked.

It was really the only relationship that I bought

besides Captain Marvel and Nick Fury in the entire

film. Speaking of the cat Dan, how did the humor

overall work for you in this film? You know,

was it dispersed in good doses? Did most of the

jokes work for you? How did you feel that was

as as far as an aspect of the film? I thought

it was pretty good. I don't you know in a pretty

good ratio and there's really any jokes. I Hold

my eyes at a little bit. I did love the use of

the scrolls in this and Speaking of 90s, the

Stan Lee cameo I thought was pretty fantastic.

One of my, one of the best with MCU, especially

considering, I guess it's not a spoiler because

Kevin Smith talked about it already that, you

know, the callback, the mall rats that were doing

the Captain, Kevin Smith's retrospect of it seemed

a little fitting. But I think humor is pretty,

it's definitely the, it's the same type of humor

we've seen with MCU. A lot of family friendly,

a lot of broad strokes, but I thought, When it

came to Brie Larson, her sense of humor really

rang the truest and was the most unique that

we've seen in MCU, at least this is the way she

delivered. She wasn't hitting the home, she's

not having these huge little queues or anything

like that compared to like a Tony Stark but I

thought the way that she would have her kind

of snarky comebacks were pretty effective. Matt,

what did you think about the humor? Did any jokes

really work for you well? Did any kind of fall

flat, or was it kind of even all the way across?

So like I said, I've been a fan of Cat and Marvel

for years, so the whole flirkin' thing I thought

was real good. I thought they did a good job.

I liked the levels of humor that Mendo put into

this. I thought... He was great, and I thought

he was one of the funnier characters, which I

didn't expect. Like if you told me, well, yeah,

if you told me that the Skrull was gonna be one

of the funniest characters in the movie, I don't

know, that I would have bought it. I'd have been

like, well, it sounds like they're gonna do Skrulls

right. And they did Skrulls differently, but

I don't think they did Skrulls wrong, so. They

look like sand people at one point. What do the

sand people get here? Sand people? Yeah, when

they're on that planet and they first get there,

they're all dressed in these burlap shroud things.

You know what I'm talking about, Kevin? Yeah,

I can see what you're saying there. Before we

get too much further, because if we go any more

into the plot and kind of where we go from here,

I guess it would contain some spoilers. So let's

hold off on that. Let's kind of just do a little

bit of a summary of kind of our overall thoughts

and then we'll kind of take a quick break and

dive in a little bit deeper. So after you guys

saw this, a lot of people are redoing their Marvel

rankings. People are trying to decide for them

where this kind of falls, how much they liked

it in comparison with those other films. and

what kind of mood it put them for the Avengers

film coming up. As far as like how it did at

the box office and Rotten Tomatoes I mean so

far at the box office still fairly early on But

it's right now in the 13th spot in the Marvel

Cinematic Universe But probably not a fair ranking

since it's like I said still early on set 266

million already for the domestic and Rotten Tomatoes

wise as far as how it ranks amongst the whole

group And this is just the critics score. We're

not going to talk about the the user score at

this point, although it has way back up but the

Rotten Tomatoes it's ranked 16th out of the 21

so 16th on Rotten Tomatoes and right now 13th

on box office gross. Amanda how did you like

it in comparison with a lot of the other Marvel

films and what kind of anticipation level did

it leave you for Avengers? made me more excited

for Avengers Endgame just as now we have like

the spark of hope to like get things back on

track for them because it was so bleak of an

ending to the last Avengers installment. This

movie though just felt like a total set out film

the whole time and I did you know just like waiting

the whole time for the most awesome stuff to

happen and then the awesome stuff kicked in and

then it was over super quick so. Just I needed

a little bit more from everything that I got

so kind of a lukewarm reaction for you. Yeah,

Dan. What about you? Say it's a set of films.

I didn't really get that really out that like

I didn't feel like there was much I think that

was something I thought was refreshing that it

wasn't really tied much into the Avengers stuff

and except for the fact that it was Captain Marvel

and we had like it and a reference to the Infinity

War stuff So I thought it was a little bit, you

know By setting it in the 90s it was able to

kind of be separate and not have to similar to

like You know some of the other like a cat like

the Steve Rogers Captain America first Avenger

like it Similar to that where it was able to

be its own unique thing. I thought it was better

In the smaller moments, it was it was a better

story than most of the MCU stuff. But I thought

when it came to the bigger stuff, like Amanda

mentioned, like when it came to the action, it

was it was fine. It wasn't it wasn't its strength

and which I thought was the right move to make.

I think ultimately the goal for this was you

want to make Captain Marvel into the hero. to

the character people would clamor for, and I

thought I did a good job at doing that successfully.

As an entertainment blockbuster, it was okay.

It wasn't necessarily, there's not a lot of amazing

action sequences that I'm gonna go back and say

that's at a high bar from Marvel. They were adequate,

they did the job, but they never overstayed their

welcome, which I thought was sometimes with the...

MCU films or even any blockbuster, they maybe

get overly extended and go on for too long. I

think they kind of held back a little bit, which

I think too was partially by design. I'm still

not sure if I know how they're defining their

powers or not, but I don't know. For me, it's

like a mid -tier MCU film. I have it around where

I rank 12th or so. Around where I have like spiderman

homecoming and the hulk ant -man and the guardians

of galaxy volume 2 So it's outside of the top

10 for me, but I thought it you know, it's I

think better than some comparing it to other

Origin films like I thought enjoyed it more than

dr. Strange But not as much as like black panther.

So even though like black panther isn't technically

in origin Matt, what about you? Is it top half,

bottom half, somewhere in the middle for Marvel

films, and what was your overall take on the

film as you've had time to think about it? Oh,

boy. So it's probably right around the middle,

and I know that's not the most satisfying answer

you could give. Don't know I like I'm not great

at comparing it It's it does everything it needs

to do right like it sets up this character establishes

how she got their powers so that we know if she

needs to lose them how she's gonna lose them

and What her powers are kind of like that could

have been a little bit more of that But for the

most part it establishes this character and what

motivates them So like it does what it needs

to do it doesn't do anything super crazy good

so like I would It's right in the middle. I think

Dan got it right when he said it. It's probably

above Dr. Strange and below Black Panther. All

right. I'm with you guys. For me, it's definitely

not in the top. Echelon of Marvel films. I don't

know if it's in the middle or maybe the Just

teetering on the side of the bottom tier, but

probably in the middle for me as well I just

thought it took too long to get to the stuff

that I was interested in and I had some other

problems that we'll get to kind of once we get

into the spoiler so we're gonna take a quick

break when we come back we're gonna get into

a little bit more in -depth as to what happens

in the second half of Captain Marvel and kind

of take the Handcuffs off and talk about it free.

So stick with us. We'll be right back. All right

After these messages, we'll be right back. On

the Simplistic Reviews podcast, we talk movies.

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show do you see how your patience paid off Thanks

for sticking with us. We're going to talk a little

bit spoilers and some further discussion on Captain

Marvell or Marvel Dan what do you want to get

into as far as any spoiler talk or anything that

you thought that? worked or didn't work with

Captain Marvel I Thought one of my things that

I thought really worked I was really surprised

by which isn't always super common when it comes

to them see if you film is that how they utilize

the scrolls in their story. I figured Jude Law,

he's probably going to end up being evil or being

the bad guy, but how they utilize the scrolls

is kind of like the sympathetic characters of

being mistreated, almost like a refugee story.

I wasn't expecting it to go to that level. I

was perhaps hoping maybe a little bit that there'd

be a little bit more depth there so that maybe

they're ... There's some innocence, but they're

also not as, it's a little bit more complicated

than that, and maybe that will be something they

get into in future films, because the Skrulls

are great villains, as Matt mentioned. They can

be ultra -scary with their ability to kind of

mimic anything, so hopefully they don't lose

that altogether, but I thought just using them,

and again, talking about how this was a movie

about kind of fighting against the restraints

of society and how that, played into it was pretty

effective. So I did think that was one of the

bigger strengths of it. Perhaps the utilization

of like the Tesseract. I don't know if that was

necessary. And I'm still not really sure. I guess

I'm still kind of confused about like how she

got her powers. It wasn't super important per

se was just I like the act of it her doing it

through sacrifice. But the because it wasn't

the Tesseract that gave her powers. It was something

else to my understanding. But Outside of that,

yeah, the thing that really stood out to me was

the Skrulls. Before we get to her powers a little

bit, let's talk a little bit more about the Skrulls.

And I gotta admit, I had like a dumb moment because

Ben Mendelsohn is playing the part of Fury's

boss, Keller. And one of the Skrulls named Talos,

it took me until almost the end of the film to

realize that Ben Mendelsohn was playing both

characters. I don't know why. Yeah, like I didn't

realize he was also playing the scroll version

I'm like, oh they got two different actors to

play this like that's like a kind of ingenious

I was like, why did they get Ben Mendelsohn for

such a small part? That guy was only on the screen

for a little bit I don't know if it's because

I've never seen Ben Mendelsohn play a role like

this like he was hilarious to me and definitely

like a lot more Comical and relaxed. I felt like

as talus. I don't know if I'm saying that name

right or not either but so I was like That was

the one mystery that I guess got me in this film

because I did not realize those were both being

played by the same person. I know immediately

as soon as I heard his voice. I didn't, I'm dumb.

Matt, what did you feel like as far as the Skrulls

and obviously the ability to add this into the

mix with all their shapeshifting mystery, et

cetera, and how did it play with some of the

source material and stuff you know about Skrulls

from the comics? Oh man, they made the Skrulls

less of like the Skrulls. How evil are the Skrulls

in the regular Marvel universe, you say? At one

point, Professor X and Black Bolt... You don't

know those guys with those shit. Well, you don't

know Black Bolt, but he'll show up someday I'm

sure teleport to like the scroll armada and blow

up the kingship Unannounced and for no reason

and teleport back to earth That was a comic book

that happened once because scrolls are evil and

they're always evil and they're the worst Well,

actually Black Bolt wasn't that awful human series

show but we'll forget that ever existed Boy oh

boy geez like it's a they're like they're I don't

know of a storyline where the scrolls are ever

good guys like they're always the the evil sinister

sneaky duplicitous types um and and you know

what like that would have been um an easy play

right now right the idea of you can't trust your

neighbor um who is working for the betterment

of society and all that like that is I mean,

it could have been a really timely and easy to

do storyline, and probably easy to do really

well. And they didn't go with that. And instead,

we've got scrolls that are supposedly likeable

and nice, and they're little baby scrolls. and

scroll science officer. I don't remember what

his name was, but he was good too. Matt, I want

you to get a chance to react to the other part

that Dan was talking about with Captain Marvel

and how she's getting her power and things related

to that. How do you think that worked or was

that a mystery to you as well? Yeah, man, it

really seemed like they're like, yeah, this engine's

powered by something somewhere else. And that's

the Tesseract, and then when she blew it up,

now the Tesseract's powering up her, but like

we all know that that thing gets crushed in a

dude's hand later, and she still has powers,

so. It's just one more of those questions that

like, I'm not trying to be like, hey, I got all

these questions and it's bad, it's like, I just

got all these questions and I have them. Right.

Amanda, how did you think about, what did you

interpret as far as her power went? Also, there

was some blood transfusion that we never saw

that would have been really dope to see a blue

blood transfusion Another thing about this film

that kind of caused me to have one of the biggest

problems I have with it on one hand It's stuff

that I really like about the film But then on

other hand it has one glaring problem with it

but something that this film seems to be wanting

to do is tackle the themes of Trust or identity

or even like a this air of mystery because we

have Obviously Captain Marvel is trying to determine

What side of the battle or war or what side of

this conflict that she should be on? You know

whether she's part of this Cree Identity that

she's been with you know for the last however

many years whether she's you know gonna Be friends

to the scrolls whether she's gonna how she's

gonna deal with the human interactions, etc.

So you have that kind of pull back and forth.

Obviously very blatant you have the shape -shifting

ability of the scroll so you can't trust who's

who, you don't know who's real and who's been

shape -shifted by a scroll to make us thrown

off from that standpoint and as an audience I

guess we're supposed to be trying to figure out

who's good and who's bad as well and on surface

I like all of those things but isn't it problematic

when you're doing that and then one of your sides

is the Cree who we know from watching other Marvel

films are evil right off the get Like I don't

like that bothered me a little bit. They're not

necessarily evil only Ronan was evil the decree.

I mean they were by the time Garient but you

know is around and stuff like that. They're not

they have fractions of them that are evil, but

it was Not not to miss the entire race, but I

mean have we seen the good have we seen maybe

I'm just since I haven't rewatched all the Marvel

films Maybe I'm just missing stuff But the only

Cree that I remember seeing in these films was

the bad version. Did we see good versions? Technically

in the ages of shield, but and people pretend

I wasn't Yeah, and and in guardians in the in

the first one Because when you think of Ronin

like it was him, but his army wasn't all Cree

It was he utilized the other type of creatures

actually some creatures that were from a planet

Hulk back when that was the thing so Okay, they're

them as like a military force wasn't necessarily

I mean they're they're A little bit more ambiguous.

I think in the current universe compared to what

they've become Okay in this I guess I was only

remembering Ronan and speaking of which is that

a character that was needed in this film at all

See, I think if they can they can make Ronan

into an interesting character Like he is a good

character in the comics there. It's so and it

does seem based upon That will get more of him

possibly more movies. There's you know, there

can be You can make him into something more compared

to like the one note Awfulness he wasn't guardians

and I think the next Captain Marvel movie is

supposed to take place before She comes back

to earth in Infinity War. So my guess is we'll

possibly see him again It's not like this performance

here at all changed. It's like oh look how amazing

in it he is but He was better in small doses.

I'll say I love his look. I love the character

design of him. I think he looks like a complete

badass, and I want him to be a cool character.

But I couldn't help but think of after the film

was over, if you take him out, did it change

a single thing about this film? And I don't think

it does. So the only purpose he could be in there

was to maybe plant some seeds that would be later

explored. I guess I didn't know that they were

going to do another Captain Marvel film in pre

-Avengers, because I'm like, they're... He's

saying that he's gonna search the universe for

this weapon and for this, you know for Captain

Marvel But I'm like, but he's dead like I'm like

How is that ever gonna happen because he's dead

and we already know that Captain Marvel is back

on earth So did they have an interaction that

we're just never gonna see I was that was like

one of my biggest questions Like what was the

purpose of putting him there unless you're gonna

explore that and I guess I didn't think about

the the time I go somewhere before endgame like

she's got to be somewhere Yeah, but I just thought

we were gonna get I thought we weren't gonna

get that because I thought we were just kind

of bounced right to like based on the end credit

scene that we're just gonna bounce to her being

on earth and it's like well did you ever have

an interaction with that Ronan guy again well

and to be fair Ronan died because of an infinity

gem and we saw with red skull that Technically

that might not mean he's dead. So that's true

comic books damn it or just movies in general

Matt what did you think of Ronan and or anything

else that anybody's brought up in the last little

bit? Boy he looked weird right like this is some

sort of face paint or something like you needed

to do that weird blood dip that he did in that

movie because like he looked awkward just being

a bloomin Like I mean I I don't even like I someone

turned to me was like hey was that the same actor

and I was like I think it was I mean, they're

in their right to choose a different actor since

it's, you know, 20, 30 years in the past. But

still, like, felt weird. Like, I don't know,

man. Like, does anyone want to see that? A Captain

Marvel V Ronan movie set in, like, 2004? Hey,

hey, I want some good MySpace jokes. You got

plenty of room. But, I mean, they're in space,

so... MySpace, exactly! Now we know where it

came from Oh Man and that would be the ultimate

Another thing that I appreciated that I forgot

to bring up in the first half I did appreciate

that There was no love story in this at all that

they didn't feel like they had to do that Which

would have been very problematic with the first

time the Marvels kind of had that female lead

I'm glad they didn't go down that route also

question about just kind of being nitpicky here,

but I guess since it's a Marvel film we're supposed

to just kind of turn off a lot of like logic

and like science with stuff because that seemed

problematic when they had all those humans and

that like that aircraft that turned into a space

shuttle that was out in space and oxygen and

gravity and things I don't know there's I'm sure

somebody could pick that apart the only thought

the part that I thought funny was funny was like

they're like oh we can just hit this button and

then that's gonna Solve everything and then we're

good. Don't worry about them that don't have

masks and suits on. Hey the scrolls was a science

man He did a thing to it He signs the hell out

of it. Yeah, I mean it is what it is. I guess

I didn't really bother me that much not nearly

as much as the Captain Marvel color -changing

suit which How in the hell did that girl know

what she was touching on that wrist thing? I

Mean did she I mean, she was doing some stuff

with her fingers and it was changing colors.

And I don't know how any of that was supposed

to be done. Like, I just remember watching that

and being like, how does she know what to do

with that thing? Like, I don't know. How does

even Captain Marvel know what to do with that

thing? That thing seems complicated as all hell.

Do she was picking stuff up and knew everything

about everything the entire movie there was no

like, oh, I know how to use this immediately

I mean those are real really silly nitpicks But

just a couple things that I kind of raised my

eye rod as I as I was watching it Any other things

that you want to bring up Amanda spoiler or not

the little things that you haven't had a chance

to talk about yet The floor is yours. Oh Just

the way that the music went with some of these

fight scenes also was just great. I loved it.

I super appreciated it All right, Matt, any other

questions that we didn't get to of yours or other

things that you would like to bring up? Nah,

I don't know. I mean, I'm sure there's more questions,

but I've asked enough. Dan? No, I think I'm good.

I mean, any... Yeah, that's about it. What about

the getting into the end credit scenes just a

little bit? Just quick comments on that and kind

of how you like that. I know some people are

having major problems with the fact that they

felt like... Captain Marvel was acted different

in that sequence than the rest of the film, but

I think that's taking context completely out

of question. Didn't speak. Yeah, I don't get

that argument at all. But Dan, what was your

general take from the sequence? Oh, she said,

where's Fury? That's like two lines. I mean,

I don't I don't know. I mean, one, she's it's

20 years in the future. So in a little more tense

of a situation. Yeah, she doesn't know who those

people are and half the galaxy just disappeared

so It's kind of I mean, I don't I don't necessarily

did it feel different the thing actually reminded

me of it was when I Think it was Thor Dark World

I forget the one where it was before Guardians

and it was the one that James Gunn did That where

was the they go to the collector and I can't

remember. I think it's I think it's Thor Dark

World and did Feel very different directed wise

and that did as well. I believe the end scene

was a recent brothers And I did feel like it

would that seems probably gonna be in the next

Avengers movie It's probably just taken lifted

right from it So it did it didn't have a different

look to it But I thought it was effectively directed

just like how it she suddenly appears. I thought

that was really well done Yeah, but I don't know.

I mean her hair straight. Is that what people

Such a silly argument from people. Amanda, did

that do enough to get you ready? Because obviously,

a lot of these characters, we've had so many

films that we've seen them in that we know the

characters, we know them well, and we know what

part they play in this end game that's coming

up. But with Captain Marvel, was this film enough

so that you're bought into that character as

being part of this whole thing as well? I mean,

it wasn't those teaser clips that we saw. in

Batman versus Superman of the Justice League.

Wow. Finally to bring that in. Yeah, it made

me excited for Endgame a lot more. All right,

Matt, last thoughts on the end credits before

we wrap this thing up. What did you think and

how do you feel? Are you ready for her to be

a part of this whole Endgame scenario? Yeah,

dude, like I said, she's my favorite Justice

League or Justice League Thanks, Amanda. I mean,

I like her more than anyone from the Justice

League movie. I'll tell you that much Jeez that

movie. Um, like she's my favorite leader of the

Avengers and I enjoyed When when she did lead

the Avengers and so like I mean like I'm here

for her being here finally So like I'm excited.

I don't like there's nothing to comment about

the end credits scene. Like nothing happened.

It was like like Captain Maris was like, hey,

I don't know what this is, but Fury had it and

then she's there and then the credits rolled.

Like what do you what what what are you talking

about? I guess enough to whet some people's appetite,

though, just to see her alongside of those other

individuals kind of back on Earth, because maybe

some people weren't quite sure how, you know,

that was going to happen. But I don't know that

people try to read into that stuff a lot. And

you got to realize one of them is going to tease

a next film and one of them is going to be a

little funny moment. And that's all there is

to it. So yeah, I mean, it's been it's been that

I mean, they even had like the end and one hasn't

been a serious like movie since, I don't know,

since phase two, I think so. Right. Right. Alright,

so that is our review of Captain Marvel Seemed

like positive for most people maybe a little

bit lukewarm for Amanda Kind of middle -of -the

-road Marvel film for most of us if we were doing

our rankings, which I don't think I have not

done. Amanda, I know you have not done. Yes,

I do. Maybe she has. I haven't. Okay. Mine's

on letterbox. Yes, so go check the ends out on

letterbox. Definitely interact with that. And

next time, actually, we're going to have another

movie review probably coming up for you next

week because Amanda and I are going to be seeing

a film that we're going to talk about. So we'll

kind of keep that under wraps until we drop that

on everybody. That's it for this week. We're

also going to be getting back into our Kevin

Smith retrospective. We have a few more films

to go through with that, as well as maybe some

other fun things along the road now that we're

kind of in the swing of 2019. So if you want

to interact with us, you can tweet at the show.

It's at Cinema Geekcast. Or if you have a specific

question or comment to one of us individually,

you can do that as well. Amanda, how do they

do that with you? At Hard Candy Mandy, I snow

wise. Dan? I'm at Move Your Holt. Matt? I'm at

Fridley Cent. And if you didn't get enough of

our conversation there, you can also go take

a listen to True Bromance, where Amanda and I

were on the most recent episode, also talking

about Captain Marvel with those two gents, so

you can check that out. You can tweet me at OptimusSolo,

but that does it for this week. Tune in next

time for another chance to listen to the Cinema

Geeks.