Avengers: Age of Ultron (May 1st, 2015)

[Niltusk]

**** NO!

Watch it.

Watching it now, is this based off that 50 shades of grey book?

 

[Rorywan]

Spader is great, excellent news.

 

[Mister Ski]

I am digging the casting of James Spader as Ultron. Whether it is VO only or if he will actually appear in the film, I am on board with this one.

DC needs to learn a thing or two about casting...Ben Affleck as Batman?

 

[Khev]

In the latest Entertainment Weekly Joss Whedon said that he thinks the ending of The Empire Strikes Back sucks (as well as any film that ends on a cliffhanger like all the LOTR films and so forth) and that it was lame when Temple of Doom made a reference to the Cairo swordsman scene with the two thugee warriors.

If he thinks he's mighty enough to make one decent movie and then start ripping on all my favorite films then Avengers 2 (and anything else he does) better be damn well perfect because personality-wise he sounds like another dumbass Cameron in the making.

If referencing other movie scenes is so bad then maybe he should have thought of that before having all the Chitauri relive the lame ending of The Phantom Menace.

Plus he had Captain America throw one of Loki's men off the helicarrier in almost the exact same way he did to a HYDRA trooper on the Red Skull's airship in First Avenger.

 

[Frank]

Pride goeth before the fall. Whedon can't afford to get a bigger head!

 

[DarthNeil]

WARNING! Early images from ON SET!!!

 

[Khev]

Pride goeth before the fall. Whedon can't afford to get a bigger head!

Seriously. The only successful filmmakers I ever hear ripping on other people's work are Spike Lee, James Cameron, and now Joss Whedon. Show some class man. Enjoy your success without it going to your head.

All right Joss. You've gone on record as saying that Empire Strikes Back was lacking. Go ahead and show us how it's done with Avengers 2.

 

[IXI Nick IXI]

WARNING! Early images from ON SET!!!

What film is that?

 

[Mad Old Lu]

I believe that photo is from the 1985 cinematic masterpiece known as Tuff Turf.

I remember watching it on video way back when, and it was actually pretty good! RDJ was excellent in it. I've been meaning to try and watch it again to see how it holds up.

 

[Uncanny Web-Slinger]

Can't think of Spader without this popping into my mind

I assume it'll be VO only. So it won't matter

In the latest Entertainment Weekly Joss Whedon said that he thinks the ending of The Empire Strikes Back sucks (as well as any film that ends on a cliffhanger like all the LOTR films and so forth) and that it was lame when Temple of Doom made a reference to the Cairo swordsman scene with the two thugee warriors.

If he thinks he's mighty enough to make one decent movie and then start ripping on all my favorite films then Avengers 2 (and anything else he does) better be damn well perfect because personality-wise he sounds like another dumbass Cameron in the making.

That's rich!

With everyone kissing his ***, no wonder his ego has risen

 

[DarthNeil]

What film is that?

1987's Less Than Zero... All us old guys know Spader and (the original) RDJ very well. Spader played Rip, the drug dealer to RDJ's Julian Wells.

 

[Mad Old Lu]

Here's Joss Whedon's full quote about ESB:

“Empire committed the cardinal sin of not actually ending,” Whedon noted during his 10-page deep-dive interview with Entertainment Weekly in this week’s issue. “Which at the time I was appalled by and I still think it was a terrible idea.”

To which your EW interviewer blurted: “You think Empire had a bad ending?”

“Well, it’s not an ending,” Whedon explained about the 1980 film, which had a cliffhanger leading into the next entry of the series, Return of the Jedi. “It’s a Come Back Next Week, or in three years. And that upsets me. I go to movies expecting to have a whole experience. If I want a movie that doesn’t end I’ll go to a French movie. That’s a betrayal of trust to me. A movie has to be complete within itself, it can’t just build off the first one or play variations.”

So I think it's a valid criticism and he says it in a constructive, rational way, and not nearly as incendiary a statement as the headlines would have you believe.

 

[Uncanny Web-Slinger]

It is a valid point about ESB, however I found that movie to be unique in there's not many movies who end on a down note with the heroes losing.

 

[Khev]

He says he was appalled by ESB, thought and still thinks the ending is "terrible" and that the whole movie was a betrayal of trust.

1. That's all nonsense, obviously
2. He is in no position to be dishing out "contructive criticism" to a magazine about any other specific filmmaker's work. It doesn't matter if he was stating things calmly or not, its tacky pure and simple.

For the record, ESB did "have an ending." The whole movie was about Vader's pursuit of Luke and trying to win him to the Dark Side. Vader caught Luke. Luke said no (actually "nooooooo".) Luke got away. Vader was pissed. The end.

So the war is still going on. I guess "Braveheart" didn't have an ending either then. So somebody got captured. I guess "The Warriors" didn't have an ending either (since the one main guy got caught by the cops and we didn't see him get "rescued.") Stupid comments all around.

 

[jenjen]

Here's Joss Whedon's full quote about ESB:



So I think it's a valid criticism and he says it in a constructive, rational way, and not nearly as incendiary a statement as the headlines would have you believe.

I agree. He's a critic, same as most of us are at times. Just because he mentions parts of movies he didn't like and how they could be improved doesn't mean he's a dumbass or egotistical. I mean, look at us. That's exactly what everyone in this forum is doing.

As a director, writer, screenplay guy, and etc., he has the privilege of commenting on things and having it published so everyone else can freak out. He's had those comments before, just never published in EW.

I may not agree with everything he said (though I pretty much do), but he has the right to say it and have people misconstrue it.

 

[Black Knight]

I wonder what he thinks about Episode 1 .

 

[GodzillaSpawn]

He says he was appalled by ESB, thought and still thinks the ending is "terrible" and that the whole movie was a betrayal of trust.

1. That's all nonsense, obviously
2. He is in no position to be dishing out "contructive criticism" to a magazine about any other specific filmmaker's work. It doesn't matter if he was stating things calmly or not, its tacky pure and simple.

For the record, ESB did "have an ending." The whole movie was about Vader's pursuit of Luke and trying to win him to the Dark Side. Vader caught Luke. Luke said no (actually "nooooooo".) Luke got away. Vader was pissed. The end.

So the war is still going on. I guess "Braveheart" didn't have an ending either then. So somebody got captured. I guess "The Warriors" didn't have an ending either (since the one main guy got caught by the cops and we didn't see him get "rescued.") Stupid comments all around.

I personally think ESB is more of a complete ending than ANH. But, I do see his opinion and think it's an interesting one, though I think the ending does it's job. He clearly doesn't like cliffhangers, which will be interesting because someone (if not Whedon himself) already compared Avengers 2 to being like ESB in the Marvel-verse.

 

[Khev]

I wonder what he thinks about Episode 1 .

He obvioulsy loved it since he tried to reference it as much as possible.

I personally think ESB is more of a complete ending than ANH. But, I do see his opinion and think it's an interesting one, though I think the ending does it's job. He clearly doesn't like cliffhangers, which will be interesting because someone (if not Whedon himself) already compared Avengers 2 to being like ESB in the Marvel-verse.

I'm sure he would have thought ESB was awesome if it ended with Vader kneeling before the Emperor and saying "My master I tried. But to lure Luke to the Dark Side is to court death" Then Palpatine could have turned to the camera and smiled. Because that doesn't scream "stay tuned until next week" or three years from now or anything.

 

[Mister Ski]

He says he was appalled by ESB, thought and still thinks the ending is "terrible" and that the whole movie was a betrayal of trust.

1. That's all nonsense, obviously
2. He is in no position to be dishing out "contructive criticism" to a magazine about any other specific filmmaker's work. It doesn't matter if he was stating things calmly or not, its tacky pure and simple.

For the record, ESB did "have an ending." The whole movie was about Vader's pursuit of Luke and trying to win him to the Dark Side. Vader caught Luke. Luke said no (actually "nooooooo".) Luke got away. Vader was pissed. The end.

So the war is still going on. I guess "Braveheart" didn't have an ending either then. So somebody got captured. I guess "The Warriors" didn't have an ending either (since the one main guy got caught by the cops and we didn't see him get "rescued.") Stupid comments all around.

Expressing an opinion is tacky now?

 

[Khev]

Expressing an opinion is tacky now?

Not at all what I said.