Open Discussion – July 8, 2009
Jul 8, 2009 by Vic HoltremanIt’s Wednesday again, time for our regularly scheduled open discussion post!
As usual – talk about whatever you like as long as it’s related to movies, …
It’s Wednesday again, time for our regularly scheduled open discussion post!
As usual – talk about whatever you like as long as it’s related to movies, TV or Screen Rant itself – just remember to play nice. 
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Well…
I am watching the Lord of The Rings trilogy (extended version) yet again, as well as reading the book, again.
I am still quarantined. There is not that much to do!
check out newshit.com.au. It’s a great satire/real news blog/site
my brother recently bought the terminator salvation game and my god was it a kick ass game, despite the fact that it was really repetitive it had more action than the movie and it was pretty much only made so that the movie made more sense as to why john connor is who he is in the future.
i recon if they had made the game into a movie it would have been not only more successful but also more hardcore and action packed as opposed to the weak excuse of a movie we got.
on other news i recon it would be pretty cool. if they decided to make and assassins creed movie seeing as how they’re making a prince of Persia why not sgo for assassins in Jerusalem ?
There is something about movies, and film that makes us feel so good. The story. The action. The characters. Whatever it is, Hollywood seems to have slowly been losing the magic to make us truly happy. Every year brings more remakes. And remakes that are just atrocious. How difficult is it to prepare a compelling story. Get a director that can mold that story…without his weird vision impairing it. And really deliver an exciting film that people love. Maybe the guys at Hollywood don’t read enough. Maybe they don’t go into the depths of the source material. Or maybe they just don’t care. Something needs to give in Hollywood. The money will be there. “If you build it they will come”. Sure we ill. But make it worth the trip. You truly wonder what some of these future projects will turn out to be. The next Superman, or Spider-Man. Why are they trying to make a sequel to 300? What is the obsession with 80′s remakes? Who said that Dwayne The Rock Johnson can’t be Captain Marvel? He has exactly what it takes. What in God’s name are DC comics and Warner Brothers doing? Besides siting on their hands. Why should it take James Cameron to show Hollywood that you can have an imagination and make money. Hello…anyone see Harry Potter. There is so much more to do. But fear is holding film back. Some of these would be films; especially the novels and comic book used to make movies have so much source material. But apparently no one wants to use it. On one hand you have Spider-Man 3, which just didn’t do it for me. AT ALL!!! Then The Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon hits. And a 23 minute cartoon does a better job than a movie the cost over $300,000,000. I wish I had a way to get close to some of these guys in Hollywood. Things could, and should be so much better.
Thanks for hearing me out. Live long and prosper.
A great story used to be the basis of all good films. Usually, a book was adapted, like ‘Gone With The Wind’ by Margaret Mitchell, or ‘Wuthering Heights’ by Emily Bronte, ‘Indiana Jones’ was adapted from the old ‘penny serials’ and adventures, ‘stay tuned for next weeks exciting conclusion’, and so on.
Now, instead of relying on a great story to be the backbone of the film, film makers seem to be trying to cash in on ‘pop culture’ and cheap thrills.
Churning out ‘blockbusters’ seems to be the order of the day.
There are glimmers of hope, of course. Although it does seem that Hollywood appears to be looking backwards, in trying to remake classic films.
Some things like ‘Psycho’ should have been left alone.
OH GOD,
What a disaster that Psycho remake was!
What were they thinking?
Goodness knows!
Everyone begged them not to! If they try to remake ‘Citizen Kane’ I think I would swear off movies!
The remake of ‘Little Women’ with Winona Ryder was bad enough. I so loved the two original movies, (one with Katherine Hepburn as Jo, and the other with June Allyson)
They don’t do remakes like they used to!
I loved the viral commercial for “District 9″ during last night’s pilot episode of “Warehouse 13.” I think that movie looks really unique and interesting. My girlfriend, who despises bugs, does NOT want to see it so that means it’ll be a mid-week matinee for me. LOL. I loved how the commercial looked like a PSA. This could be a sleeper hit.
gottarhyme,
I’m watching The Lord of the Rings films again as well….I just finished watching the first half of “The Two Towers” and gonna watch the second half after work.
The only way to slow down the flow of bad movies is to stay home and not see them. When people run out to see remakes because there’s nothing else out that weekend what kind of message do you think your sending hollywood?
“Continue to make crap films and we’ll see them anyway, then later complain that they suck…” Brillaint tactic,,,
You (people that mainly don’t post here and will never read this) have to completely stop seeing these films.
If not, you can continue to read information about the remake of “20.000 Leagues Under the Sea” getting a new script writer. Or how Val Kilmer is going to be in “MacGruber.”
If you support bad cinema they will continue to make bad cinema…
And ps that Terminator Salvation game sucked worse then the film.
Bravo 790!!!!!! Brilliant post!!!!
PS Andy….District 9 will be the sleeper hit of the Summer….I have been looking foward to this for the past year and a half. I mean if Mr. Jackson is going to Comic-Con to promote this, you KNOW it’s gonna be good!
Totally random…watching the Avatar series on DVD and still chuckling. I should be ashamed with my grown self, but I can’t help it. It tickles me.
I think that there should be a competency test for casting directors. How many potentially great movies have been biffed because of one fatal casting flaw. Perhaps a required urine test for directors as well. I think back on how good a movie could have been but for one lone character that was so wooden or misplaced that it made the rest of the film damn near unwatchable. Part of me wants to blame the actor but in this case I simply can’t do so, it’s not their fault for trying to make a buck and if a director can’t get the performance out of them that they should have, then bite the bullet and replace them.
I’ll cite two huge examples here and will let anyone else add their own entries onto this unexpected atrocities list:
1) The all time worst – Hayden Christopher in the second and third Star Wars movies, based on their episode numbers. I have no idea on what Lucas was thinking, maybe he was still numbed from his unfortunate casting of the Anakin character on the first movie episode (but hey, he was just a kid, so I gave him a pass). Maybe it was the script, maybe it was the story but essentially the responsibility for that big pile of poo rests with Mr. Lucas.
2) Martin Sheen as Glenn Stillman in The Dead Zone. In the story, King describes the guy as a big hulking intimidator, a man of the people (Brian Denehy anyone?) and instead, we get Sheen, who has the chops to be sinister but lets face it, you can’t act “big” when you don’t have the stature for it. The rest of the casting, damn near impeccable, Walken has never been better, Adams, Lom, Zerbe and Skerritt are all incredibly solid. Just couldn’t get past Sheen (who is a great actor imho).
thanks for letting me vent.
@790 ty for that nugget of common sense, I’ve stayed home a lot this year and tbh not a whole lot has got me excited about the films this year with the exception of HP6.
@Silkvertongee
Don’t be ashamed of Watching Avatar:THe Last AIrbender.
It is extremely well-written, witty, funny and has great action and character.
I just started watching the series for the third time. It is just great fun.
piratedan,
My understanding is that HC was cast in the prequels because they thought he did a great job in My Life as a House .
Where he co starred with Kevin Kline .
And he really did give a pretty good performance in that film.
I hear ya Gary, but as these guys watched the dailies of the filming, someone had to have noticed something right? Again, I don’t mean to knock Hayden as an actor, just that his performance in the role, well to be kind, lets just say it was less than one might have hoped from someone that was supposed to be the conflicted focal point of the entire story.
Casting deptments don’t make the final call on actors. They are hired to assemble choices for the producers and directors. In some cases the studio also has a say in what actors play what roles. Its more political then you think.
Does anyone esle think Classic Media should get ahold of “Godzilla vs. Meagalon”, “The Return of Godzilla”(AKA “Godzilla 1985″), and “Godzilla vs. Biollante” so they can release them in the same fashion as they have released their most recent Godzilla films?
@ Matt Keith:
Re: ‘Lord of the Rings’ are you watching the extended versions? I love the extra bits. But then again, I am a big nerd. I am considering going to New Zealand for my next holiday so that I can see where Edoras was!
I can’t believe you guys can watch those movies again, much less the extended versions…. Weren’t they long enough? I mean, seriously! lol
I’ve seen them and actually thought they were quite good, quite interesting, but I don’t think I can watch any of them a second time… It’s weird, I fell asleep several times during them (didn’t miss anything because I saw them on DVD and went back if I dozed off). But strangely, I didn’t really find them boring, they were interesting, but for some reason I can’t stay awake while watching them, something about the fantastical setting maybe, maybe it makes my brain think it’s already in a dream, lol.
But one thing I do have a beef with, the ending of Return of the King. OMFG, talk about an ending that dragged on and on and on and on. I swear I kept thinking when it faded out that the credits will roll, then another scene will start, ok, then it fades out, roll credits? NO! ANOTHER scene! then it faded, expecting credits again, and then ANOTHER scene! It did that like 10 times, haha.
The books are quite a lot the same in that respect, Ken. I imagine that Peter Jackson was tying up loose ends for the fans of the books.
I was a little angry at Aragorn’s portrayal. In the novel he alwaysa knows he will be King, one day. In the film he seems to be running away from his destiny!
Also, Arwen’s role was beefed up by Jackson, probably because he felt that more females were needed!
I think he wanted to make Aragon seem less arrogant, despite the similarities in their name, by making him more of a reluctant hero than someone who was seeking glory from the beginning. I don’t know, just my guess…
Over 45% of the audience have never read the books.
Well…
They reckon the world is divided into two kinds of people;
Those who have read Lord of The Rings, and those who intend to…
I love the books, although I am on my third reading. You cannot possibly understand the scope of Tolkien’s work after only ONE reading!
There are bits of the book that I think Jackson was right to leave out, and he condensed quite a bit, there is a lot of recount in the books, everyone has to keep telling their part in the adventure from their perspective it seems!
That probably explained the ending of the film.
“You cannot possibly understand the scope of Tolkien’s work”
Well lucky for me I’m exposed to more than Tolkiens work…
No, I wasn’t saying YOU couldn’t understand it, I was making a general second person comment! (It included me)
I had to read it three times to capture all the ideas and nuances.
I always do that, read texts over again. I read ‘Catch 22′ at least once every two years. That book is brilliant.
Yeah Ken, those films are long, but I have the “limited edtions” where half way throught the film you have to flip the disk(which I admit kinda sucks) and take a break there.
Hey, for anyone interested I’ve seen Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and I must say, it’s a really good film, probably around the 4-5 best films this summer. I’d say the ending was quite dissapointing, so I’m giving it a 4 out of 5. But maybe that’s just because that book is my favourite of the series and I entered with really high expectations. Anyways, I do suggest seeing it, though you may want to consider not going to a 3D screening.