Wonder Woman

It had limited released on December 25, 2016, and once it was eligible for Oscar nominations, it received wider North American release on January 6, 2017. To be eligible for a particular year's Academy Award nominations, a film must be released between midnight on January 1 until midnight at the end of December 31 in Los Angeles County and play for seven consecutive days; it was released just in time in 2016 to make it for the 2017 balloting and nominations.

BenPanced said:

It had limited released on December 25, 2016, and once it was eligible for Oscar nominations, it received wider North American release on January 6, 2017. To be eligible for a particular year's Academy Award nominations, a film must be released between midnight on January 1 until midnight at the end of December 31 in Los Angeles County and play for seven consecutive days; it was released just in time in 2016 to make it for the 2017 balloting and nominations.

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It still counts as 2017.

Yeah, whatevs...

I'm sorry, but Hidden Figures was already nominated as Best Picture (see https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/movies/oscars-2017-nominees-ballot.html). It can't be nominated for a second year. (If movies could be, I'd imagine the producers of La-La Land going "Next time's the charm!")

Hidden Figures was also nominated for a Hugo this year, 2017. Works are eligible for 2017 if they were published in the preceding calendar year, in this case, in 2016.

Just fyi--odd tangent--Hidden Figures made New Yorker's Best Movies of 2016 list (though at the bottom, #35). But it's not on Rotten Tomatoes' list, probably because RT lists it--wrongly--as a 2017 movie.

Regardless, I don't see it topping any "Best of" lists. A good flick imo, but not great. Ditto for Wonder Woman. I liked Wonder Woman and so did my kids, but we agreed that a lot of that is due to just how much better it was than other recent DC flicks. GotG2 and Spidey are both far better, imo.

What I really didn't like about Wonder Woman was her being presented as a god/demi-god. And the end battle was just too BIG for me. Did the DC folks think she needed to be godlike to be able to be in the same league as Superman? I don't know. But in my mind, Wonder Woman was always akin to Captain America: fundamentally human, though with superior abilities (due to chemistry in Cap's case and genetics in WW's). And I didn't get that sense from the movie at all.

robeiae said:

Just fyi--odd tangent--Hidden Figures made New Yorker's Best Movies of 2016 list (though at the bottom, #35). But it's not on Rotten Tomatoes' list, probably because RT lists it--wrongly--as a 2017 movie.

Regardless, I don't see it topping any "Best of" lists. A good flick imo, but not great. Ditto for Wonder Woman. I liked Wonder Woman and so did my kids, but we agreed that a lot of that is due to just how much better it was than other recent DC flicks. GotG2 and Spidey are both far better, imo.

What I really didn't like about Wonder Woman was her being presented as a god/demi-god. And the end battle was just too BIG for me. Did the DC folks think she needed to be godlike to be able to be in the same league as Superman? I don't know. But in my mind, Wonder Woman was always akin to Captain America: fundamentally human, though with superior abilities (due to chemistry in Cap's case and genetics in WW's). And I didn't get that sense from the movie at all.

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Well, WW already made a best list for the first half of the year.

BoxOfficeMojo is one of the best places for stats and news on movies. From their weekend update.

"Wonder Woman enjoyed the smallest drop (29.9%) in the top ten, finishing just outside the top five in the film's seventh week in release, delivering an estimated $6.9 million weekend. That puts the film's domestic total over $380 million as it inches closer to topping the domestic run of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ($386.5m)."

robeiae said:

What I really didn't like about Wonder Woman was her being presented as a god/demi-god. And the end battle was just too BIG for me.

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That, of course, is YOUR opinion. I thought it was just about perfect, and sets her up for the role she's usually portrayed in comics, as able to stand up to Superman.

robeiae said:

But in my mind, Wonder Woman was always akin to Captain America: fundamentally human, though with superior abilities (due to chemistry in Cap's case and genetics in WW's)

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...Isn't genetics what makes her a demigod?

I always saw her as a supernatural figure, not just a human on the outlier range of abilities, from the Lynda Carter WW to Saturday morning's Super Friends. The Lasso of Truth always indicated to me that she wasn't a mere mortal. But then, I grew up with Bewitched, the Flying Nun and Mary Poppins as early influences, so I always found it easy to accept that people with supernatural powers can still be fundamentally human and vice versa.

Laer Carroll said:

BoxOfficeMojo is one of the best places for stats and news on movies. From their weekend update.

"Wonder Woman enjoyed the smallest drop (29.9%) in the top ten, finishing just outside the top five in the film's seventh week in release, delivering an estimated $6.9 million weekend. That puts the film's domestic total over $380 million as it inches closer to topping the domestic run of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ($386.5m)."

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Cars 3 was what took her down.

And the end battle was just too BIG for me.

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The scale didn't bother me; the way it was animated did. Also, Diana's sudden ability to throw lightning should have been established earlier, even if it was just an insert of her being hit by lightning or electricity at some point.

One also has to wonder how Zeus throwing Ares down with a bolt of lightning just left him stuck on earth, but the demi-deified daughter of Zeus can toss a bolt and kill him.

Cyia said:

The scale didn't bother me; the way it was animated did. Also, Diana's sudden ability to throw lightning should have been established earlier, even if it was just an insert of her being hit by lightning or electricity at some point.

One also has to wonder how Zeus throwing Ares down with a bolt of lightning just left him stuck on earth, but the demi-deified daughter of Zeus can toss a bolt and kill him.

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I would guess he's probably not actually dead this time either. (Of course, there is a recent comic book storyline in which Diana does successfully kill Ares, and then she takes his place as the God of War.)

Laer Carroll said:

That, of course, is YOUR opinion. I thought it was just about perfect, and sets her up for the role she's usually portrayed in comics, as able to stand up to Superman.

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That's fine, I clearly said it was what I didn't like about the movie. And I still liked the movie plenty, as I said. Far better then other recent DC efforts, imo.

ElaineA said:

...Isn't genetics what makes her a demigod?

I always saw her as a supernatural figure, not just a human on the outlier range of abilities, from the Lynda Carter WW to Saturday morning's Super Friends. The Lasso of Truth always indicated to me that she wasn't a mere mortal. But then, I grew up with Bewitched, the Flying Nun and Mary Poppins as early influences, so I always found it easy to accept that people with supernatural powers can still be fundamentally human and vice versa.

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Well, I know her backstory--like that of so many other superheroes--has been occasionally changed. I guess maybe I'm stuck on my views as a product of the 70's, including the TV show, wherein Wonder Woman was a woman, an Amazonian princess with a lot of skills and a few special items (lasso, bracelets, invisible jet). She never seemed like a god at all. And indeed, in the TV show, she had a kid sister (played by Debra Winger).

Personally, I just like that idea more, even if it's not consistent with the current origin story (which is also the original origin story, right?). For me, it's what makes Batman cooler than Superman, what makes Cap and Iron Man cooler than Thor. YMMV.

ETA: And fyi, if you're made out of clay and a god breathes life into you, there are no genetics involved.

robeiae said:

…I know her backstory--like that of so many other superheroes--has been occasionally changed.

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You're right about that! Over a half dozen times. There was even one where she lost her superpowers and had to fight baddies the way Batman did!

robeiae said:

fyi, if you're made out of clay and a god breathes life into you, there are no genetics involved.

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Quite right. Though some of us at the House of Secrets comic book store in Burbank that I frequent had a discussion of that when I dropped by recently to pick up my latest comics. (Sales of WW have picked up a lot since the movie came out, not surprisingly.)

I argued that she may have started out from clay but she ended up with a human body. I suggested that for her to function (eat, sleep, fight) she needed a human genetic base, so maybe Zeus gave her one, perhaps borrowing from one or more of the Amazons. That idea was met with approval.

But I didn't stop there and got myself in trouble by suggesting that the Greek gods might be aliens, maybe shipwrecked on Earth, maybe exiled to there. Maybe they were metahumans, but all too human in their childish and arrogant ways. So maybe Zeus used genes from himself and other gods and goddesses such as Aphrodite, Athena, Hercules, Hermes, etc.

I got booed for that. (Actually, aloud, though in friendly ways.) Now the rest of you can join in the symphony!

robeiae said:

Well, I know her backstory--like that of so many other superheroes--has been occasionally changed. I guess maybe I'm stuck on my views as a product of the 70's, including the TV show, wherein Wonder Woman was a woman, an Amazonian princess with a lot of skills and a few special items (lasso, bracelets, invisible jet). She never seemed like a god at all. And indeed, in the TV show, she had a kid sister (played by Debra Winger).

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That was my first real experience with Wonder Woman, too. The ice cream scene in the new movie was taken straight from the comics, but I immediately thought of the series, when Diana's little sister visited and was so obsessed with ice cream.

From Hollywood Reporter box-office report.

Warner Bros.' Wonder Woman has eclipsed Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ($386 million) to become the top-grossing film of summer in North America and the second-biggest title of the year to date behind Beauty and the Beast with a total of $389 million. Wonder Woman's global haul stands at $779.4 million.

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As I guessed: WW has legs!

What I'd like to know is where Diana keeps her sword, shield, and costume when she's not using them? As when they are traveling to the war front, for instance.

I saw somewhere asking if they had wished they had add the spin transformation in the movie. To me, it wouldn't first with the tone.

Laer Carroll said:

As I guessed: WW has legs!

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<Wolf Whistle>

Boy, does she ever!

OK, the newbie will go hide now.

James Cameron said in a Guardian Interview: "All of the self-congratulatory back-patting Hollywood’s been doing over Wonder Woman has been so misguided. She’s an objectified icon, and it’s just male Hollywood doing the same old thing! ..."

https://www.theguardian.com/film/20...e-able-to-reproduce-the-shock-of-terminator-2

Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins, among others, was unhappy about his remarks.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/20...ck-at-james-cameron-criticism-of-wonder-woman

I have to wonder if he saw the movie. What he says is true of the comics portrayal of Diana. There she has big boobs and a beautiful face and a revealing costume. Which is true of most comics portrayals of women. If the suits aren't near-bathing-suits, they are so form-fitting they might as well have been painted on. The movie, however, is more restrained though it necessarily had to retain enough of the comics vision to satisfy fans that she was the Real Wonder Woman.

For what it's worth, here is my version of Wonder Woman formatted to AW's image standards. Her costume isn't far from what I often see here in sunny SoCal when I go out for a burger or to shop in the mall. Men as well as women dress pretty skimpily due to the heat, especially younger ones.

What a dumbassed thing to say. As if there's only one correct way for women to be strong. As if it's impossible for beautiful women to be powerful. He clearly doesn't understand what objectification really is--it's not about being beautiful or sexy, it's about being dehumanized. The movie didn't even come close to that line.

Frankly, his comments just show how much he mentally others women. In his mind, they have to fit a certain narrow stereotype in order to be strong.

Cameron, like Whedon, got a lot of credit for minimal effort and has then worn that into the ground. Trying only gets you so far. At some point you have to grow past the early efforts.

Cameron's just mad because he didn't direct it himself.

Laer Carroll said:

What I'd like to know is where Diana keeps her sword, shield, and costume when she's not using them? As when they are traveling to the war front, for instance.

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The best answer I can give is that they are stored in a pocket universe or dimension. This seems reasonable given that Themyscira itself is contained within one... hence it is difficult to find.