Just got back from Thor Ragnorok and I only have two words

[RandySF]

Tessa Thompson!

[TheDebbieDee]

1. My daughters went to see this earlier today. They said there were many

LOL moments!

[woodsprite]

2. We went tonight as well.

Thought it would take my son's mind off his jaw pain. He had 4 impacted wisdom teeth removed yesterday. I thought the movie was really good. I loved Jeff Goldblum's character.

[pansypoo53219]

4. ow. OW.

[Not Ruth]

3. The movie is an endless string of one liners

[Callmecrazy]

5. Yeah they went overboard trying to make every line funny...nt

[avebury]

22. Exactly! nt

[NewJeffCT]

6. It was a fun movie

funniest superhero movie since Deadpool. Though, I would have liked that they gave me credit for being Chris Hemsworth's body double.

[wyldwolf]

7. Getting tired of the Marvel comedic formula

Slapstick and too many one-liners killed the Superman and Batman franchises in the 80s and 90s.

The source material deserves to be taken more seriously.

I think when the source material is played too light and goofy, you re-enforce the notion comics are for kids and immature men. There's an old story of when Mario Puzo was writing the script for Superman: The Movie. Richard Donner thought the script veered to close to the campiness of Adam West's Batman series. There was a scene where Supes swooped down on who he thought was Lex Luthor but it was famous Kojak actor Telly Savalas who said his famous catchphrase "who luvs ya baby!" Donner sent that script through multiple rewrites until he got the balance he wanted. His belief was the movie couldn't be smarter than the audience and if he didn't take the source material seriously, neither would ticket buyers.

DC has learned their lesson about being too dark. Marvel's formula, if it stays in this direction, will produce an unexpected critical and public bomb some movie soon.

[Blue_Adept]

9. We had two serious Thor movies already

The third changed things up and look at how well it's received. The first one got some bonifides thanks to Kenneth Branagh directing and hitting on some Shakespearean themes, but the second one is considered entirely forgettable if not downright awful.

Thor's best moments have been through the Avenger's films with the banter and interplay with others. And this one is all about him playing off a range of other people, making him far more personable and engaging.

[wyldwolf]

12. they were hardly serious, they just didn't veer this far into comedy.

[Blue_Adept]

13. In comparison to the other films out around them, they were far more serious

If it had kept to the same as the first two films it would have been "yet another boring thor movie" by many.

The winning formula has been what they've been doing with Cap in going for a different mood with each film, but every film is very different even within the "marvel formula."

And they are continuing to change it, though a lot will not really see it. They know they have to change because change (and adherence to core values) is what's kept the characters going for so long.

Side note: the MCU movies crossed the $5 billion mark this weekend domestically with this film. It crossed the $13 billion mark worldwide for all of them.

[Orrex]

14. Question about the film (no spoilers)

Did they explain how Thor went from a grim, earnest warrior with no sense of humor to a lighthearted, fun-loving guy who can drop one-liners better than Deadpool, Peter Quill and Tony Stark all rolled into one? With no transition from one to the other? Was it his tacked-on swimming scene in Age of Ultron that did it?

Call me old-fashioned, but I like my Ragnaroks to be, you know, sort of serious.

Everything about this movie suggests that an executive looked at the huge mounds of Guardians cash and said "make another one of those but call it Thor. No one will notice or care."

[Blue_Adept]

15. It was over the course of the films themselves

Each piece lightened it up more, particularly after the first with exposure to Earth and its heroes and his moving past trying to live in his father's shadow and being the same kind of serious ruler that he was. Each instance on Earth had him lightening up more and enjoying himself.

And a good part of it naturally occurs off-screen; there are two years of "unseen" stories between when we saw him in Age of Ultron and here.

That said, even during the early parts of the first film he wasn't grim, he was a fun-loving warrior that was frustrated and angry that he didn't get what he thought was owed, hence the standard hero's journey.

[Orrex]

16. But his sense of humor in this film is completely out of character

Two years doesn't really allow for a lot of character development in a guy who's thousands of years old. How much development do you do in, say, four seconds?

hence the standard hero's journey.

I can't buy that. The hero's journey doesn't start out with a literal god who can happily trade punches with the Hulk. Thor didn't have the "humble beginning" that is the hallmark of the hero's journey, and he's the son of the All-Father destined to rule Asgard. That's more or less the polar opposite of the hero's journey.

What we have here is a well-established but dull(ish) character who underwent a makeover thanks solely to commercial pressures.

[Blue_Adept]

17. That's fine

I can see it over the course of the films because I have them on regularly in the background playing as a twenty-film or so playlist. And I background hear the evolution and see these pieces. It's there but it may not be "casually" visible for some.

We simply agree to disagree on it.

[Orrex]

18. NO DAMMIT MY OPINION IS LAW!!!!!

LAW!!!!!

At this point Orrex paused to get a grip on himself before he exploded into a conflagration of fanboy zealotry...

[Blue_Adept]

19. Heh

My view is colored because of an over-exposure to the material compared to others combined with decades of reading Thor books. So I tend to skirt conversations like this to some degree because of that.

[sarge43]

20. Winter Soldier, Civil War and Logan were comedic?

The Dark World didn't win any hearts and minds; probably why they lightened up with Ragnarok.

The X-Men series haven't been laugh riots.

[wyldwolf]

21. Logan and X-men are not part of the MCU - they're SONY / 21st Century FOX

Out of 17 MCU films, there are, perhaps, 2 or 3 not played as comedies. Hell, even Civil War tried to be serious but still devolved back into that formula.

[sarge43]

23. No, they aren't

Logan and all X-Men film I own have the MCU logo, Sony isn't credited anywhere. Neither IMDB nor Sony's online site indicate any Sony connection to the X-men series.

[wyldwolf]

24. Yes they are.

X-men is 21st Century FOX. Spider-man, until Civil War, was SONY.

Find X-men on any MCU list.

I'll start you off:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Marvel_Cinematic_Universe_films

From 2016: Kevin Feige Says X-Men Coming to the MCU is an "Impossibility"

https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/11/kevin-feige-x-men-come-to-marvel-is-impossibility.html

2012: Why isn't Spider-Man/X-Men part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

https://www.quora.com/Why-isnt-Spider-Man-X-Men-part-of-the-Marvel-Cinematic-Universe-Is-it-just-a-character-rights-issue-or-is-there-more-to-the-story

2017: 15 Reasons The X-Men Universe Is Better Than The MCU

https://screenrant.com/x-men-movie-universe-vs-mcu-better-worse/

You're up!

[Blue_Adept]

8. Check out the trailer for Annihilation, her next big picture

It's going to be excellent. A great cast all around.

Natalie Portman as Lena, the Biologist
Jennifer Jason Leigh as the Psychologist, the leader of the group
Gina Rodriguez as Anya Thorensen, the Anthropologist
Tessa Thompson as the Surveyor
Tuva Novotny as the Linguist
Oscar Isaac as Lena's husband
David Gyasi
Sonoya Mizuno
Benedict Wong

[wyldwolf]

10. right wing knuckle-dragging tiki-torch holdin' white sheet wearin' basement dwellers hate her

They cannot stand a white character was portrayed by an African-American actress.

https://www.bet.com/celebrities/news/2017/10/30/tessa-thompson-thor.html?cid=facebook

[Blue_Adept]

11. I was so glad to see Cate Blanchett just being able to have fun

She gets saddled (or rather, chooses) a lot of very serious movies overall and we're the better for it because they're excellent.

But movies like this allow the actors to chew the scenery and just have it. And for her to be the embodiment of Jack Kirby's version of Hela? I can't imagine what my teenage self would have thought back in the 80's at having such a thing exist.