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Da Couch Tomato Podcast Season 2 Episode 16, discussing the latest Pixar film Lightyear. Pinag-usapan namin kung bakit tingin namin ito ang weakest Pixar film so far, at hindi namin alam kung dahil ba ito ay spin-off. We also talked about the most controversial part ng movie, which is the same-sex kiss (sa totoo lang, smack lang ito, pero ginawang big deal). Binanggit din namin na medyo disappointed kami na walang kasamang Pixar short ito bago ang movie.

Sting Lacson's rating : 7/10
Rachel's rating: 7/10
Final rating: 7/10

Help our podcast and get up to 80% off on Lazada if you shop using this link: https://bit.ly/3p4Ur5K
4:30 PM
"Can we get porn on this thing?"

•The best part of Avengers: Endgame is not the fact that it's a superhero movie, nor is it the fact that it is the final film in possibly the first cinematic franchise of different films sharing an interconnected universe. The best thing about this flick is its genre, and that is time travel, my favourite movie genre ever. A time-heist, in the words of Scott Lang (the Ant-Man, played by Paul Rudd). It even ranks itself among other great time travel movies such as Back to the Future, The Terminator, Bill and Ted, Somewhere In Time, Hot Tub Time Machine, and Time Cop, among others. Then it differentiates itself from the rest by basically saying Back to the Future was bullshit.

•Captain America (Chris Evans) is worthy of Mjolnir. Although I was a Marvel fan as a kid, my Marvel knowledge was mostly limited to the X-Men and Spider-Man. Imagine my suprise when Cap is finally revealed to be worthy of lifting both Mjolnir and Stormbreaker (although this was already hinted at in Avengers: Age of Ultron). Weapon interchangeability is kind of new to me, see.

•When we see Cap at the end, when he hands over his shield to Falcon (Anthony Mackie), he is an old man. But if he returned all the stones to the moment they were taken, then that means the original timeline was preserved. But he married Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), so that means he created a new timeline where they grew old together. That's a plot hole right there, but apparently that can be explained by having him live out his new timeline and then travel back to the original timeline to give his shield away. That is if we work under the assumption that Pym particles can make you travel not just back and forth in one timeline, but across different alternate timelines as well. But that's a stretch, if you ask me.

•Captain America is a title. Just like Black Panther is a title. And Sorcerer Supreme. Captain America is not Steve Rogers, but rather Steve Rogers is Captain America. They are not interchangeable. When Steve Rogers dies, the mantle of Captain America can be passed on to another worthy person. In the same way, T'Chaka was the previous Black Panther before he died and his son T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) became the new Black Panther. Also like how the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) held the title of Sorcerer Supreme before it was passed on to Doctor Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch).

•Ant-Man time-travelled, but Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) was first. Although the whole time travel idea was Scott Lang's (as well as the term "time heist"), his previous experience wasn't time travel per se, but more of getting lost in the quantum realm and realising time had passed differently for him. The first proper time traveller who travelled to a specific time and space was Hawkeye. But following the rules of time travel, he shouldn't have taken that baseball glove with him. I hope they put it back to the point it was taken so as not to mess up any timelines.

•The girl power scene would have been great with Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson). Of course we all loved the girl power scene in Avengers: Infinity War, and we also adore the character that embodies girl power itself, Captain Marvel (Brie Larson). But even before the strong female characters in the MCU, Black Widow was already whooping supervillain ass. She was the first among Marvel's lovely lady warriors, and now she is gone. Not to worry, though. I hear she's getting a prequel spinoff. Yay.

•The new Hulk is kinda weird. And I am bothered by it. Maybe it's because he speaks straight now? I don't know. I must have gotten so used to "Hulk smash" that any complete sentence, no matter how short, will sound so out of character. Or maybe it's because he just looks so damn like Mark Ruffalo. I really don't know. I am still bothered by it.

•Marvel went for misdirection in the Captain Marvel film by teasing that Captain Marvel can whoop Thanos's ass. Actually, that's not entirely accurate. Captain Marvel can hold her own against Thanos, sure. But to say that she can whoop Thanos's ass implies Thanos hardly putting up a fight, which wasn't the case at all. No one single hero can beat Thanos in a one-on-one fight. It takes teamwork, strategy, strength, and a whole lot of luck.

•Regarding Captain Marvel's hair, my question is this: is she or is she not a lesbian? Yeah, I know, you can't judge a person by his or her haircut, but this is cinema, ladies and gentlemen, a visual medium. The most effective way to depict a tomboy is to show her with boy's clothes, or really short hair. It's that or showing her and her lover in the scissors position, so yeah.

•Good job, Marvel, for bringing back even the minor characters from the previous films. That's a big feat, considering Natalie Portman didn't want anything to do with it anymore. Well, Natalie Portman didn't return for Endgame; they used old footage from the Thor movies. But almost everyone came back, even Rene Russo as Thor's mom, Benedict Wong, Evangeline Lilly, and a lot more. A whole lot more.

Two of you are going to die in this film.



Avengers: Endgame. USA. 2019.



Original rating: 8.6/10
Shout-out to the great time travel movies: +0.1
Stan Lee cameo: +0.1
Ant-Man's comic book helmet: +0.1
Robert Downey, Jr.'s last Marvel film: -0.1
Final rating: 8.8/10
6:19 PM
Another big-budget bonanza.

Captain America: Civil War feels like an Avengers movie marketed as a Captain America flick, probably because it’s too soon to have another one after Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Although there are twelve superheroes in this flick which, even discounting Bucky the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), is more than the number of heroes in Age of Ultron, somehow it doesn’t feel too crowded. I’d say the reason for this is because this film focuses on the relationship between the two poster boys Captain America (Chris Evans) and Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.). This gives the filmmakers enough room to flesh out the relationship between them, relegating the rest to supporting roles, which helped focus the storytelling.

Anyway, I’d hold back on the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice comparisons, first because that film wasn’t a proper ensemble movie, and second because Civil War pulled off the “friendship over” theme better by setting up the conflict more effectively.

Team Cap posing for a photo.

Now whether you liked the film because of its adrenaline-pumping action sequences, or because of its mature themes of friendship and betrayal, here are five more reasons to go see it.

5. The Black Panther
Although not that well-known compared to the other heroes in this flick, T’Challa a.k.a. Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) gets enough screen time and action sequences to summon a following strong enough to translate into box office ticket sales. That is when he gets his own stand-alone movie in a couple of years.

4. A huge Ant-Man
If you’ve never heard of Ant-Man before Paul Rudd, that’s okay, despite him being one of the founding members of the Avengers in the comic books. So I guess it also follows that you know nothing about how Ant-Man’s powers work, which would make giant Ant-Man a welcome treat.

3. A young Robert Downey, Jr.
I don’t know why I’m the only one raving about this reverse-aging technology, but I’ve been excited about it since The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. What are some of the repercussions of being able to physically make an actor look younger? Well, a Han Solo spin-off movie, for starters. With Harrison Ford still playing himself. I know, right?

2. A young Peter Parker
Now this… this is Spider-Man. I’ve been a fan of the web-slinger from the comics, and I can tell you that this iteration of Peter Parker is the one that comes closest to the comic books. It’s actually because the original Peter Parker was a teenager when he donned the Spidey outfit, which is why Tom Holland is now my favourite onscreen Spider-Man.

1. A hot Aunt May
Two words: Marisa Tomei. ‘Nuff said.

Wipe that drool off your chin, boy.




Captain America: Civil War. USA. 2016.



Original rating: 8.5 / 10
Unrecognisable Daniel Brühl: + 0.1
No Scarlett Johansson nudity: - 0.05
No Elizabeth Olsen nudity: - 0.05
Too much Jeremy Renner: - 0.05
Stressed out Don Cheadle: - 0.05
Not enough Falcon: - 0.05
Final rating: 8.35 / 10
4:20 PM
Fansided

I said before that I am not really that keen on watching any more Marvel movies, with the exception of The Infinity Gauntlet. So I wasn't really excited about watching Captain America: The Winter Soldier, since Captain America wasn't really one of my favourite superheroes, anyway.

But boy, was I wrong.

"Not half as wrong as getting that rebond, eh Scarlett?"
1:35 PM
YouTube

Da Couch Tomato was given the privelege to interview the Avengers. Not the actual characters, of course, but the actors who played them. However, since we are a Third World blog, they granted us only one question for each actor. The nerve. Anyway, we made the most of it.

Robert Downey, Jr.1
Iron Man
"I should've registered "Genius, Billionaire,
Playboy, Philantrophist" as a trademark."

Who is the alpha male in the group?
Tony Stark, of course. An alpha male is someone who provides the pack their food, their shelter, their basic needs. I'm that guy. Also, I'm the only one with a kissing scene─with Gwyneth Paltrow. I mean, come on.

But on the other hand, if I were really the alpha male, I would've gotten a kissing scene with Scarlett Johansson as well. All right, that's going into the contract for the Avengers sequel.
11:58 AM

The things I did not like about Captain America:

1. The historical inaccuracies
There were no black people in World War II.

Well, technically, there were. But they had their own batallion. You see, there was this thing called segregation, people. Black people did not fight side-by-side with the whites. If you don't believe me, see Band of Brothers. Everything I learned about World War II, I learned from Steven Spielberg. Just kidding.

P.S. I don't think there were Asians in World War II, either. Even those from Fresno.

See? No black people. Nor Asians.
1:15 PM

If this reminds you of the X-Men, or Heroes, then you are not alone.

Same basic plot: people with super powers, secret government agency (also called "Division", like in Nikita), and people trying to kill each other.

In this movie, the super-powered people are divided into the following:
  • Movers: Those who can move objects with their minds. Also used to refer to people who transport your furniture when moving into a new house.
  • Pushers: Those who can push thoughts into other people's heads. This includes Djimon Hounsou, who has abandoned his trademark screaming, since it would be out of character, as Pushers talk through the mind; and Camilla Belle, who has seemingly pushed out all the hotness in her since 10, 000 B.C., as she looks totally disheveled here. Also used to refer to people who sell drugs for a living.
  • Watchers: Those who can see the future. This includes Dakota Fanning, who foresaw this movie as a stepping stone to playing a vampire in New Moon. 
  • Bleeders: Those who can give out high-pitched screams and make your eardrums bleed. But really, "bleeders"? I would've gone for "screamers". And they're really ugly when they scream. Hideous.
  • Sniffs: Those who can track other people. You know, "sniff" them out.
  • Shifters: Those who can change an object's appearance to others. This includes Cliff Curtis, who has succeeded in shifting his appearance into Fire Lord Ozai. I was half-expecting him to suddenly throw out fireballs, but then I stopped and reminded myself that this isn't The Last Airbender.
  • Wipers: Those who can wipe your memory. Also used to refer to those sticks that move across your car windshield to wipe away bird poop.
  • Shadows: Those who can keep Sniffs from finding someone. They're like a human cloaking device. Also used to refer to dark areas blocked from light.
  • Stitchers: Those who can heal. You know, like doctors. Because they "stitch you up". Come on.

Now what makes this movie different from the others? Well, as far as I know, it's not adapted from any previous source or medium. It is an original screenplay. Not an original story. Just screenplay.


*some info from IMDb
pic from pajiba.com


Push. USA/Canada/UK. 2009.


Original rating: Five and a half out of ten.
Putting a leash on Djimon Hounsou's shouting: Plus point five.
Final rating: Six out of ten.
3:14 PM

A good action movie. But not great. Just good. Somehow everything after Kick-Ass is only good.

Now am I the only one who thinks that Jeffrey Dean Morgan looks like a stockier Robert Downey, Jr.? But of course RDJ is a better actor, no question.

Zoe Saldana, you almost exposed your breasts. Almost. Well, you could've at least shown some side boob.

Surprisingly, they didn't play the race card for comic relief. It was white boy Chris Evans who stole the show. I actually LSS'd on "Don't Stop Believing." I don't know though if it was Arnel Pineda's version.

Sad to sy that the coolest character here, the Mexixcan sniper Cougar (not the hot old lady-cougar) had the fewest lines. I'm not sure though if he was Mexican, or whatever Latin American nationality. Either way, he didn't talk much.

And finally, Jason Patric was pure evil. Delightfully evil. Not as despicable as Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds, but a delight nonetheless. And his sidekick Wade looks like a Daniel Craig stunt double.

By the way, this is another flick based on a comic book. Sad, really, as the last original franchise I liked was The Matrix trilogy. There should be a movement on more original screenplays. And I shall spearhead that movement. If only I were in Hollywood.


*some info from IMDb
pic from clarkiep.wordpress.com


The Losers. USA. 2010.


Rating: Seven point one out of ten.
3:52 PM

This film tried very hard to capture the essence of the comic book. Tried, but failed.

Let me try to find some good points, though. Okay, the casting was great, except for Jessica Alba. Chris Evans was perfect as the cocky and arrogant Johnny Storm, and Michael Chiklis portrayed The Thing quite close to his comic book persona. Ioan Gruffud seemed to pull off Reed Richards quite well, as he made quite a believable dork. Jessica Alba however, was not even convincing as a scientist. Sue Storm should be smart with a strong personality, and should complement the character of Reed Richards. And this Jessica Alba failed to do.

Special effects-wise, it was great, like a typical Marvel movie. But again, effects are merely tools to help propel the story forward. And this film is nothing more than the story of how they got their powers. Big deal.

I'm really sorry, but the Christopher Nolan Batman reboot has raised the bar for superhero movies. Any film that falls short will just be popcorn fare.

Even if it has Jessica Alba in it.


*some info from IMDb
pic from thecia.com.au


Fantastic Four. USA. 2005.


Rating: Five out of ten.
4:43 PM
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