Madame Web

Madame Web at $26M spells trouble for Sony Superheroes
www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-...for-sony-superheroesInside Sony's ‘Madame Web' Collapse: Forget About a New Franchise
www.msn.com/en-us/movies/other/inside-so...ranchise/ar-BB1iwPRG

Personally I couldn't care less about RT scores and box office numbers.
The only question I have: are there decent strength feats with 3 spider powered women running around.

Went to try and see it in theatres but the movie got moved to the smallest theatre in the cinema and to a later time. Unfortunately too late for me to wait, so I'll have to wait and go another day.

not a bit. this is not a superhero movie. It's basically a horror/thriller. It was great watching normal people menaced by someone with the powers of spider-man, though. He would be a terrifying enemy. But for super-femmes on the screen, nope, this isn't that movie.

I went to see it yesterday. I won't give spoilers, but it's not a superhero movie. It's a set up for a superhero series.
Even though there are no feats of strength, I enjoyed it for a good story.
I'd really like to see what they can do with it.
I hope we get the opportunity to see the potential with what they've started with.

I liked it too - it wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible. Had issues, certainly, but I don't understand the absolute hate so many reviewers have for it.

The hate feels (in my opinion) much like it was for The Marvels - hate before the movie is released.
When I observe that, it feels like it has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the movie - they might not even view it all all. It feels more like they can't handle the idea of strong women not needing men.
I'd like to be wrong on this. I really would. But when bashing starts before it's even viewed ...
I'm certainly not trying to accuse anyone of this mindset (especially in this forum). I'd love to believe that we've grown beyond such things. It's just my feelings when I observe this type of behavior is observed.
If this offends anyone, I deeply apologize.

TCockrill wrote:

The hate feels (in my opinion) much like it was for The Marvels - hate before the movie is released.
When I observe that, it feels like it has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the movie - they might not even view it all all. It feels more like they can't handle the idea of strong women not needing men.
I'd like to be wrong on this. I really would. But when bashing starts before it's even viewed ...
I'm certainly not trying to accuse anyone of this mindset (especially in this forum). I'd love to believe that we've grown beyond such things. It's just my feelings when I observe this type of behavior is observed.
If this offends anyone, I deeply apologize.

I hear you. To me, a lot of that early hate sounds like Incels who can't stand the idea of women who are not dependent on men. Who are equal or better. A kickback from the modern cultural shifts that empower women. 

I suppose its worst when dealing with superheroines, who are physically superior to men. 

And then there's most of us on SWM... we love the superheroine mantra. The stronger and more dominant the better. We've still got some elements of the old FemDom genre here, and that can be fun. 

I for one can't write a story without a beautiful but immensely powerful girl/woman who is physically superior to any man, but who also has an interest in having a special man in their lives. Sexy and powerful go together perfectly. 

Shadar

It seems like the brand is just damaged at this point. People aren't even willing to give it a chance anymore. I honestly thought it was pretty good (Although Sony really needs to give up trying to make a Cinematic universe out of the one character gallery they own, it's just not gonna work) but even I was expecting terrible She Hulk level of stuff to crop up. It's just tied to expectations now. "Woke" has really damaged Hollywood in general. I'm not gonna go into a long rant about it, but suffice to say "woke" is not just the current youth culture nor is it an extension and the modern day equivalent of the progressive movement. It's a very specific part of Southern California and Hollywood that's bleeding into basically everything now.

"I for one can't write a story without a beautiful but immensely powerful girl/woman who is physically superior to any man, but who also has an interest in having a special man in their lives. Sexy and powerful go together perfectly. "
I don't necessarily say these same words, but unfortunately we rarely will have female characters like that in today's cinemas

TCockrill wrote:

The hate feels (in my opinion) much like it was for The Marvels - hate before the movie is released.
When I observe that, it feels like it has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the movie - they might not even view it all all. It feels more like they can't handle the idea of strong women not needing men.
I'd like to be wrong on this. I really would. But when bashing starts before it's even viewed ...
I'm certainly not trying to accuse anyone of this mindset (especially in this forum). I'd love to believe that we've grown beyond such things. It's just my feelings when I observe this type of behavior is observed.
If this offends anyone, I deeply apologize.

The reviews I have watched bring up a lot of different points. dull acting/lack of chemistry, plot holes, studio and lead actress not knowing or being faithful to the original material, product placement, a bunch of stuff.

I think it's a combination of 'had a lot of small things wrong with it' combined with 'girl boss fatigue' (although honestly there are no girl bosses in this. Even the main actress after the powers mostly lucks out because the villain stops to rant at her. but everything else is spur-of-the-pants reactions and a bit of planning, not "I am so powerful that the enemies have no chance") and bad marketing / lying in the trailer... if they had pitched this as 'what if an evil spiderman was up against a psychic' it would have been better...

lfan wrote:

Thought the same exact thing   It wasn’t nearly as bad as the press it’s getting.  Some of the scenes are actually kinda cool

that said, the villain is  awful!!!   I dunno where they found him but his acting was terrible to the point that every time he spoke it sounded like an English dubbed version   All the girls were pretty good.  Dakota had moments that were good and some cringey moments but overall it wasn’t as bad as the fanboys are saying

He actually was dubbed mostly - I forget the details but they had to redo some of his lines (or most,?) and so a large chunk of his dialogue was added in afterwards. Not sure which review/commentary video said that.

I did get to see the film eventually and it was terrible IMO - but it is also fascinating to me as well.

There was a huge disconnect in terms of the movie advertised and the movie presented and I absolutely believe that if it was advertised as a (as mentioned in this thread) thriller - it might have been better received. The film isn't terribly directed but stylistically it is plain as plain can be. I think that is by design as Sony likes to craft a film in its edit and this film was supposedly re-edited in January to move the timeline to 2003 from the 90s.

Sony got its wish to make a film that was built for spinoffs but with how terribly it did - I doubt any will see the light of day. The acting was wooden and there was no chemistry, there are edits where the score just cuts off switching scenes and really the best/most interesting part of the film is the end 'fight'.

I was really hopeful for this to be a great movie and turn into great Spider Woman character films.

Obviously, I like strong female protagonists. Strong mentally and physically. 

But also, looking for superheroes beyond MCU and now DCU. I admire how they're coordinating and keeping 1 storyline, but it's the reason I had to stop reading comic books: overload. Having to read, or watch, everything just to get references in the few characters characters I care about became exhausting.  Sometimes I just want to watch A movie, not 30. I don't want to have to watch all the guys just to see Captain Marvel be the strongest.

That's why, these days, most of my superhero movies come in forms like Sky High, Spider -Verse, things like that.  I was really hoping for a strong Spider-Woman to be among that.