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So I was most looking forward to James Cameron's Avatar. Probably because I am a Michelle Rodriquez and Sigourney Weaver fan. They have done some great sci-fi projects. But, I just saw the trailer for the new Clash of the Titans remake. Looks like it has promise, but I have a nagging feeling I may be let down. But then again, Liam Neeson is in it so it must be good.
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I hadn't heard of the new Clash of the Titans, I hope they have a little bit of the sensibility of Harry Hausen. It doesn't matter what tool you use if you use it wrong.
Avatar looks interesting, I'll wait to hear from some of my favorite reviewers.
I did have one that I was looking forward to, like really looking forward to but it has slipped my mind at the moment, sorry.
(There is always the comic book movies, Captain America, The Avengers, Deadpool, Wolverine II, Green Lantern, Iron Man II even though I am still quite pissed that they replaced Terrance Howard with Don Cheadle. I like Cheadle but I was so dearly looking forward to Howard's use of intense subtlety applied to War Machine.)
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Talking about Avengers...Don't forget Thor starring Chris Hemsworth (George Kirk in the new Star Trek) and of all the super hero ones, yes Avengers I am most looking forward to...and I will boycott Wonder Woman if non-acting Megan Fox stays cast in that role.
Posts: 710 | Registered: Oct 2009
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Yes, I mean Ray Harryhousen, I had just gotten out of four (Or possibly five) hours of math test and was a little low on brain juice. I also forgot about Thor, actually I was thinking that it was already out and I had seen it. (Turns out it was just an old Hulk movie I was thinking about, but that was a good one.) There was a rumor that Megan Fox was in the running for CatWoman. Personally I don't believe it considering the pristine casting of The Dark Night.
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I say this in all seriousness. There have been talks about Cher playing a past her prime catwoman.
I agree with you about Jim Rhodes. But I am looking forward to seeing Mickey Rourke as Whip Lash...all his plastic surgery seem to give him the perfect storm of villanous looks and the stills of him look great.
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Don't know...none of the current crop seem terribly appealing...since I had such a good experience with WALL-E and Up, I might try Toy Story 3 when it rolls around, or whatever Pixar puts up next. (Decided to pass on the current Disney traditionally-animated movie, what was it, The Frog Prince? Maybe when it rolls around on video.)
I can see remaking Clash of the Titans, since the first one wasn't particularly good...but this won't have all that Harryhausen stuff this go-round...
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Avatar was pretty good. A couple of good sci-fi concepts. A felt like I was watching Red Prophet in space.
Posts: 710 | Registered: Oct 2009
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Been waiting for someone to bring this up again.
I remember I went to see James Cameron's Titanic at the movies, because the subject matter, the sinking of the Titanic, is dear to my heart and a lifelong interest...but Avatar just doesn't have that kind of resonance for me.
Besides, some of the reviews seem to indicate that Avatar lays Cameron's political beliefs onto the plot with a trowel---which would be bad enough if I agreed with them.
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I saw Avatar on Thursday at midnight (Thursday was an eventful day for me). I LOVED IT!
The storyline is OK - very similar to a recent animated movie, Battle for Terra, but with the addition of the actual "avatar" concept. However, I found it to be very moving and inspiring.
The visual effects were stunning. Definitely watch this one in 3-D (I don't think it's being offered any other way, but just in case it is, see it in 3-D - the glasses are polarized instead of using red/blue paper ones).
Cameron has been my favorite director since way back in 1986, after "blowing me away" with The Terminator and Aliens. Sure, there have been better movies by other directors, but Cameron is the only "old-timer" who hasn't dropped any bombs (I don't count Piranha 2 since he didn't actually finish that one).
Edited to add: I don't agree with most of Cameron's political viewe either, but that's the case with most of the directors in Hollywood - I still thought it was a very good movie.
[This message has been edited by philocinemas (edited December 20, 2009).]
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Robert, Avatar wasn't any more political than Wall-e was - you should give it a chance. Visually, it is worth it!
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I saw Avatar too, and loved it. No wait, I LOVED IT.
Beautiful movie, really cool aliens, and a brilliant magic system. The cg effect merged seamlessly with the real life stuff. Well done. I definitely think it was worth the money to see it in 3D. It felt like I was inside the story, and there were no random 3D gags. No spit takes, or arrows shot at you, kind of thing.
There was, in my opinion, a lot of politics shoveled through, but for the story and the characters it worked.
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I've gotta say...I thought there was a fair amount wrong with Titanic. The storyline seemed contrived to put someone everywhere something happened...and the acting, particularly the leads, seemed poor. (I saw it that way, despite heaps of praise in the media for the acting couple of Leo and Kate.) It did look like they spent every cent of that two hundred million price tag on what was actually on the screen---I rate this higher than any other movie about the Titanic except A Night to Remember.
As for Avatar...well, here's a link to a review from Locus Online that, I think, addresses the science-fictiony aspects of the movie better than the other reviews (positive and negative)---and also points out what the movie rips off from SF...
has anyone seen the recent movie Pandorum--a sci-fi thriller that had the feel of Resident Evil in space(Same producers)--that has also read the short story Command Transfer by Dean Spencer, published in IGMS issue # 13?
quote:News media reports this morning put its "take" at over one billion dollars---so I guess it doesn't matter if I spend my seven-fifty on it or not.
It's Ok Robert...I saw it twice so that made up for you.
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Last night I woke up in the middle of the night and watched Woverine. I rarely watch a movie first run.
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I was going to buy the "9" DVD last week, but didn't...I may pick up one in a couple of hours, along with "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs," which is supposed to be out today.
Now that I've got a Blu-Ray player, I've got to get titles in that format---which is worth it.
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It's an older movie, but I really enjoyed "Sunshine", especially in high-def. Worth the watch for any sci-fi fans out there... though it gets wacky in the end.
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Would you believe Best Buy was out of Blu-Ray copies of "9" this week? I might've bought it regular, but decided not to.
(Actually, right now, there are two movies floating around called "Nine" or "9" or somesuch...the other is a turkey remake of a Broadway musical of Fellini's "8 1/2"...pick up the last-named movie if you want to see it in a good version.)
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I wasn't a really big fan of SUNSHINE (the "forgot" excuse that precipitated the calamities was too far-fetched for me; there were better ways to do that, though after listening to the commentary, I understand WHY Garland went that route).
However, I will watch anything and everything written by Alex Garland and directed by Danny Boyle.
Trailer to the new Dreamworks CGI movie How To Train Your Dragon
Thought there was some discussion of this movie somewhere but anyway for the Train fans here. There is a stage production by that title. It's here sometime soon. It looks like "real" dragons from the pictures advertising it.
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On How to Train Your Dragon...there's a TV series on the Cartoon Network that I think is derived from the movie, but I've only seen one episode and I'm not sure...
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Oh man, would I like to see it. It is based on the animated movie.
The dragons are as real as they could make them, there was an article about the show and a lot of it had to do with how they did the dragons. Never done before type of stuff. It takes 300 semis to move everything.
But at $51 for the cheapest ticket my wife said no way even though we really could do it. We could buy the second to lowest ticket too I'm sure but whatever it is it will be pricey.
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Just found this on the Apple movie Trailer site "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones" It's based on a series of books I've seen. I haven't read any even though I have come close.
A series of half angels fight evil beings: werewolves, witches, vampires etc. Some of the books seem to be a bit too much on the romance side for me, plus they seem to be written for YA. Even that last hasn't stopped me from reading something before but this series seems to be related to "Twilight" in one sense.
And Arthur C Clarke's Childhood's End! Though I say this with gritted teeth when I remember the two good tries (3003; 2010) but failures of Phillip Jose Farmer's Riverworld. http://www.syfy.com/riverworld/Posts: 1475 | Registered: Aug 2010
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I suppose it's nice that somebody is finally buying up these properties with an actual notion of making them---if I recall right, Childhood's End has been optioned, on and off, since its publication around sixty years ago.
Of course, SyFy will, likely as not, botch it if they do it. Probably drop all of Niven's "Known Space" background and make it as if some fifty-years-from-now starship has found its way there. (Was it SyFy who did Le Guin's Wizard of Earthsea?)
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Perusing the old 2009 posts...I note that I watched (and enjoyed) "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs," but never got around to watching "9"...right after that, I decided to stop picking up so many of these movies I never get around to watching. Though I have bought (and not watched) a few.
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I've seen "Childhood's End" around for a long time but I don't recall ever reading it. Of course if I read it thirty years ago or so I might not.
And I too hope they do to "Ringworld" what they have done to others. That especially includes what they did to Dresden Files. Should have called it something else.
Posts: 5289 | Registered: Jun 2010
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Oblivion was lame. Lame yet expensive. So... worth seeing.
JMO, but this is why it didn't work for me, it started out as a horror movie, with creepy monsters...for like a reason, but then by the end, they bad guys were so lame, that they had to put children in harms way just so that you'd celebrate when the bad guys are conquered. Also...why did they need to show the boringist sex scene in the history of forever, but then pan away in the real love story. Also, why does a triangle need water? Also, how did the lady give birth by herself, and a million of other logic defying ridiculousness.
It was honestly like they took a Syfy channel movie script and then decided to put a hundred million dollars to make it, without fixing the script. I'm wondering if it was written by Hubbard, and scientology money funded it, honestly, it's that dumb.
But it was pretty, so I don't feel like I wasted my money. I just think they don't do enough SciFi to do SciFi stupid.
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There's a new Jeff Bridges movie called "Seventh Son" It's another monster fighter movie.
Lots of demons and action from the trailer. But it flashes that is it is a popular series and I wonder if it is taken for a novel series I've seen. I looked over the first one but decided for personal reasons not to get the book even though I can't recall what the reasons where. But it was a tale of a Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, in, if I remember right, an Alternate 1800s US. I know there was a second book but I don't know if there are more. It's the only Seventh son book I recall seeing.
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Yeah, that would be the Alvin Maker books. Quite a good series, although if the Jeff Bridges movie has monsters, then it's no relation. There is a second one, and a third one, and like a bajillion after that, if I remember right.
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LDWriter2 is talking about "Seventh Son" based on the Spooks series written by Joseph Delaney. The movie got pushed to next January. Julianne Moore is also in it.
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R.I.P.D. is out but this one is different even though the plot and facial hair are about the same.
And yes now I recall the writer, the series I was thinking of is the one by Alvin Marker. I didn't think it had a lot of monsters but Hollywood could have changed that.
As I said the trailer didn't say what series it was adopted from and no listed web site for the movie either.
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First, I must say that overall I really enjoyed the following movies, but wanted to vent a few annoyances that are becoming very prevalent lately.
Has anyone noticed how a lot of new action movies have the people nearly flying and/or surfing around like in the lord of the rings and new hobbit movies and pirates of the Caribbean and on and on. Its like we're suppose to believe that anything can move like that, let alone relatively normal humanish beings.
I also tire of the endless fights between immortals that progressively become more and more ridiculous with no physical harm until finally one of them dies (how?). ie man of steel, avengers, wolverine, etc.
Posts: 164 | Registered: Jun 2013
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quote:Originally posted by legolasgalactica: Has anyone noticed how a lot of new action movies have the people nearly flying and/or surfing around like in the lord of the rings and new hobbit movies and pirates of the Caribbean and on and on. Its like we're suppose to believe that anything can move like that, let alone relatively normal humanish beings.
I think this is probably because somebody developed the software to do such scenes, and when directors look in their CGI toolbox they see the new tool and think "Ooh, shiny!"
I appreciate what the producers have tried to do with The Hobbit, which is to connect the story with the great unpublished backstory Tolkien devised for LotR. At the same time they had to make it a blockbuster. Unfortunately I think much of the story is lost.
Like any great fairy tale, The Hobbit packs some important lessons. One of these comes in Thorin's deathbed reconciliation with Bilbo. It's a privilege to be part of someone's life; a privilege that is squandered when we only consider them according to their fitness to play the part we've chosen for them in *our* story. On his deathbed, stripped of his illusions and Earthly attachments Thorin finally can see this.
By splitting the story into multiple movies, the screenwriters are presented with a problem: how to provide the first movie with a satisfying ending. Ralph Bakshi's abortive Lord of the Rings trilogy failed because the first movie (with screenplay by Peter S. Beagle) was too true to the book, leaving moviegoers dissatisfied because the film was dramatically incomplete. They solved this problem by giving Bilbo at least a partial reconciliation with Thorin, worse, on *Thorin's* terms. Yes, it makes dramatic sense for Bilbo to win a public display of respect from Thorin, on terms that make logical sense given Thorin's character, but the screenwriters did the wrong thing by the story by doing the right thing for their movie.
Back on topic, I can think of few movies that give me a real "science fiction" experience. 2001 certainly, and Blade Runner. The Day the Earth Stood Still. But most movie "sci-fi" is more pulp adventure, less cerebral than appealing to the reptilian brain.
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Film's strengths are portraying visual and aural spectacles. Film's weakness is portraying interior discourse, like thinking. A strongly appealing and clearly crafted, artful text narrative translated to film narrative oftentimes butchers the text's meaning and uses other techniques, oftentimes visual and aural "reaction shots," to express emotional thoughts. With as much investment text writers expend on watching film, no wonder writing creatively is as challenging as it is to do.
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