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Friends In Your Head | Forums → Posts by Dorkman
It seems a bit obvious, but has "The Intermission" been ruled out? I thought that name was solid when it was applied to the non-commentary episodes.
It was mentioned in passing, but now that you and Squiggly mention it I'm starting to think you're right and it's just been staring us in the face.
I suggested we go with Friends in Your Head but for some reason that didn't get much traction.
Back when we were first trying to think of titles I suggested The Peanut Gallery -- which surprisingly isn't trademarked, at least not in the relevant field. Not sure that feels right for what the show has developed into, though.
Banned from the Web/Internet was suggested and I think that's funny, since we clearly aren't banned from anything.
The Show That Dare Not Speak Its Name strikes me as amusing but the novelty might wear off.
Or The Show With No Name? People might think we're bigger on Westerns than we are though.
EDIT:
the Trademarksmen
OMG
You and me, Holden. We're holding the line.
Anyone who asserts video games cannot be art demonstrates a poor grasp of at least one of the two.
I maintain that there is no sensible definition of "art" which could encompass movies but not video games.
EDIT: More to the point, who fucking cares if it's art or not? People tend to turn up their noses at it as "not art" as a way of dismissing it as not worthwhile, as if they're better than people who play because they're doing something more important with their lives. Fuck off, no you aren't. And fun is worthwhile regardless of "artistic" merit.
We're not recording this week, but I agree that we need to start announcing the stream again in advance when we do. I've figured out how to do that so I'll make sure it gets done.
Right now I'm reading What If? - it's a bunch of historians BSing alternative outcomes to major moments in military history. It's what you do with friends after a few beers. Only here the friends are foremost historians.
I have that one. The hardcover is like a foot thick so it's a bit daunting. Been meaning to check it out though.
I'm still reading The Eye of the World, but I finished This Book is Full of Spiders. It was fine, meandering about as much as as John Dies at the End but, to me, less entertaining. JDATE lacked any kind of real narrative arc, and being just a collection of episodes in the characters' lives that was perfectly fine. TBIFOS, though, is a story about one event from beginning to end, and as such I would've liked it if there was more of a, you know, point.
I also read Sick Little Monkeys: The Unauthorized Ren & Stimpy Story, which got into the genesis, rise, and fall of the cartoon that was a big part of my childhood, and has arguably influenced animation (mostly for the better) moving forward. Pretty cool information, including some info about the development behind certain episodes. The author is not afraid to share his opinion on animation in general and Ren & Stimpy in particular, nor to declare most of it (including a number of episodes of R&S) complete garbage. I would've preferred maybe a more clinical tone, but whatever. There are also a number of occasions where he uses a word that looks like the one he wants to use but isn't, like he wrote the book on an iPhone and got autocorrected here and there. The editor seems to have been a bit asleep on the job, but again whatever. You can still make sense of the narrative just fine.
Currently listening to True Grit, a bit over halfway through (it's a short book -- 6 hours audio unabridged). I haven't seen the John Wayne version, but the Coens nailed it. I am still planning to go over to 11/22/63 next, and possibly Under the Dome after that, just out of curiosity.
I believe it was Eddie who stated that the problem with SUPERMAN RETURNS was that Singer was too invested in the character and the legacy, whereas what he brought to X-MEN was a respect but not a suffocating one and that's why X-MEN worked.
It would appear that Singer is of the same opinion.
It's actually a pretty well-known fact -- at least among folks like us -- that Watterson refused to license C&H, and that the Calvin decals are effectively bootlegs.
Incidentally, I just saw this today. Something else Watterson, sadly, wouldn't be happy about:
Quick update. The second volume of the prequel comic has been released providing more questions than answers
For an Abrams project? The hell you say!
Holden, could we make the sarcasm tag more obvious? Maybe some kind of marquee effect?
I don't see how your comment was sarcastic, despite the sartalics, since sarcasm is saying the opposite of what you mean but the italicized comment seems to be precisely what you mean to say.
Sarcasm would be something like "I'm glad we've got three pages of suggestions to expand the list - it was pretty sparse." That's obviously untrue and can be assumed as sarcasm without having to resort to typographical cues like backwards italics.
As a snarky prick myself, I don't think you said anything particularly snarky. You were certainly negative across the board, but that's only what the film deserves.
The only point of disagreement I have is that I thought Rachel Weisz did really well considering how under-written Evanora (like all the characters) was. I thought she brought a subtlety to the character's manipulations, and the way she relishes her own wickedness, that certainly wasn't any thanks to Raimi's direction. But I have a gaycrush on her in general, so I might be biased.
In my earliest years — and I mean, literally starting about the time I learned to speak — I kept three movies in constant rotation. Anyone who has kids, or has family who has kids, knows how they are. They find something they like and the idea they might like some other thing just as much simply never occurs to them.
The first film in the rotation was ANNIE. The second — to no one’s surprise — was GHOSTBUSTERS. And the third was THE WIZARD OF OZ. I watched them over and over, memorizing every line and moment, even if in my toddlerhood I had little idea what any of it actually meant. According to my dad, when the Wicked Witch of the West — my favorite character — got on her broom and flew around, I would jump up and run around the house, cackling away. I don’t remember this, but I do have pictures of myself at the age of three or so in a Wicked Witch Halloween costume, and I’m still a spaz about movies in much the same way, so the story checks out.
Rewatching the film in recent years, I was struck by the curiosity of how it might be updated with modern technology. I quickly decided there was no merit in remaking THE WIZARD OF OZ specifically, but a sequel or prequel would be interesting. So when I heard a project exploring the origins of the Wizard himself was in the works — with no less than Robert Downey, Jr. in talks to play the young humbug — I started paying attention.
RDJ declined, and so Sam Raimi directs James Franco as Oscar “Oz” Diggs, a circus magician unable to leave the deceptions and illusions on the stage. When he runs afoul of the circus strongman by hitting on his girlfriend, he escapes his (probably deserved) pummelling by stealing the circus’ hot air balloon and floating away. Unfortunately, he floats right into a twister, which transports him — as Kansas twisters are apparently wont to do — to the Technicolor land of Oz.
In homage to the 1939 MGM picture (which, despite the opening title card acknowledging the works of L. Frank Baum, influenced this film far more than the books did), the film starts out in 4:3 black and white. The homage is purely superficial, however, as no attempt is made to emulate the shooting style, personality, or sensibilities of the period. In this way, it sets the tone and audience expectations appropriately, but not, I think, in the way it was intended.
The opening segment, particularly a scene involving a performance of Oz’s magic show, seems convinced it’s terribly witty when it’s really just obnoxious. Raimi’s slapsticky, adolescent sense of humor, with unfunny gags that drag on and on, is in full effect throughout the film. I gather that Raimi and Franco have a lot of fun working together, and bully for them — but much of the film feels like they’re just goofing off and cameras happen to be rolling. Franco, a solid actor given the right material and direction, never seems more than half in character, and on a couple of occasions I swear he seemed to be glancing at Raimi just off camera as if to say “How was that? Was that funny?” It plays more like college kids doing sketch comedy for YouTube than a $200 million follow-up to an all-time classic film.
Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams, and Mila Kunis all do their best with what they’re given, although when Mila Kunis’ Theodora transforms into the green-skinned, pointy-nosed Wicked Witch of the West (in a scene which seems to briefly forget which classic story we’re letting down), it just goes all the way over the top and becomes amateur scene-chewing in Halloween make-up. When it comes to the supernatural, and especially supernatural evil, Raimi seems unable to step out of the absurdist EVIL DEAD mold. Which is a problem. Because when he insists on making his antagonists ridiculous — when he can’t take them seriously — it’s nigh impossible for me to take them seriously and engage in the stakes of the story.
It’s particularly disappointing because I feel like there’s a solid script somewhere at the foundation of the film — aside from its reliance on the wearisome “prophecy of the savior” trope. Written out as a beat sheet, the plot moves along at a good pace and each scene builds on the last, and there are several unexpected set-ups and interesting reversals and pay-offs. But it’s badly let down by the sluggish, indulgent direction and generally weak performances.
The real stars, of course, are the visual effects, and if they mostly feel cartoony that’s almost certainly a deliberate stylistic choice, and it’s especially forgivable given the sheer volume and scale of the work. I thought the simulation work — such as a whitewater rapids sequence when Oz first arrives, and a magical fog bank conjured by Glinda — was especially impressive, but the stand-out effect to me was China Girl, a living porcelain doll who looked absolutely perfect in her imperfections. I was impressed by how well the animation nailed the jankiness of a marionette, and was pleased to discover they’d actually had a marionette on-set providing the “performance” for reference. An original yet wholly appropriate character, China Girl was the only character who felt like she belonged in a story about Oz.
Overlong and mistaking smarm for charm, OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL — like Burton’s ALICE IN WONDERLAND — is probably going to make a mint, and continue this trend of making premakequelboots of various classic properties. If you’re the type to complain about every movie being derivative crap, wait for video if you must see it at all, because the runaway successes of movies like this are why we can’t have nice things.
Should I be surprised that none of the remaining Star Trek movies are in the list?
Nah, just an oversight on my part. I fix it now.
I'll be going back through and highlighting the ones we'll almost certainly get to before too long. If there's anything left off the list entirely you think deserves attention, or you have a burning desire for a commentary that doesn't wind up highlighted, let us know.
Our previous thread for suggestions got pretty long and spread out, and it was also difficult to track our more popular suggestions or for new people to know what had been suggested before.
So. Starting a new one here, starting up top here with all our suggestions and ideas so far. This doesn't mean these are all going to happen -- there's about 8 years' worth of titles here, and new ones are coming out all the time -- but it will help you guys see if there are any gaps in our thinking, as well as to let us know which ones you really want to hear, since you might be more or less interested in some than we might assume.
I tried to organize these based on their most useful category --e.g. there are several Tim Burton films that are under "October Movies" rather than under "Burton," since they come more in handy categorized that way.
FRANCHISES
AVENGERS
Captain America
The Incredible Hulk
BACK TO THE FUTURE
Back to the Future Part 2
Back to the Future Part 3
BATMAN
Batman
Batman Forever
Batman & Robin
Batman Begins
The Dark Knight Rises
BILL & TED
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey
BLADE
Blade
Blade 2
Blade: Trinity
CLASH OF THE TITANS
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Clash of the Titans (2010)
Wrath of the Titans
DIE HARD
Die Hard 2
Die Hard with a Vengeance
Live Free or Die Hard
A Good Day to Die Hard
THE GODFATHER
The Godfather
The Godfather Part 2
The Godfather Part 3
HARRY POTTER
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
HELLBOY
Hellboy
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army
JAMES BOND
Dr. No
From Russia with Love
Goldfinger
Thunderball
You Only Live Twice
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Diamonds Are Forever
Live and Let Die
The Man with the Golden Gun
The Spy Who Loved Me
Moonraker
For Your Eyes Only
Octopussy
A View to a Kill
The Living Daylights
Licence to Kill
Goldeneye
Tomorrow Never Dies
The World is Not Enough
Die Another Day
Casino Royale
Quantum of Solace
Skyfall
JURASSIC PARK
Jurassic Park 3
KARATE KID
Karate Kid 2010
KING KONG
King Kong (1933)
King Kong (1978)
King Kong (2005)
MAD MAX
Mad Max
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
MEN IN BLACK
Men in Black 2
Men in Black 3
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible 2
Mission: Impossible 3
Mission: Impossilble - Ghost Protocol
THE MUPPETS
The Muppet Movie
The Great Muppet Caper
The Muppets Take Manhattan
The Muppet Christmas Carol
Muppet Treasure Island
The Muppets
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
THE NEVERENDING STORY
The Neverending Story
The Neverending Story Part II
OZ
The Wizard of Oz
Return to Oz
Oz the Great and Powerful
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
PLANET OF THE APES
Planet of the Apes '68
Planet of the Apes '01
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
PREDATOR
Predator
Predator 2
ROBOCOP
Robocop
Robocop 2
Robocop 3
SHERLOCK HOLMES
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
SPIDER-MAN
The Amazing Spider-Man
STAR TREK
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Star Trek: Generations
Star Trek: First Contact
Star Trek: Insurrection
Star Trek: Nemesis
Star Trek Into Darkness
SUPERMAN
Superman
Superman II
Superman II: The Donner Cut
Superman III
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
Superman Returns
THE MUMMY
The Mummy
The Mummy Returns
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze
TRANSFORMERS
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
UNDERWORLD
Underworld
Underworld: Evolution
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
Underworld: Awakening
X-MEN
X-Men: The Last Stand
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
X-Men: First Class
FILMMAKERS
ARONOFSKY
Requiem for a Dream
The Wrestler
Black Swan
BURTON
Ed Wood
Mars Attacks!
Big Fish
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Alice in Wonderland
Dark Shadows
Frankenweenie
THE COEN BROS
Fargo
The Big Lebowski
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
FINCHER
The Game
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
GILLIAM
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Time Bandits
Brazil
12 Monkeys
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
HITCHCOCK
Rope
Rear Window
Vertigo
Psycho
KUROSAWA
The Seven Samurai
The Hidden Fortress
PIXAR
Brave
Cars 2
Finding Nemo
Toy Story
Toy Story 2
Toy Story 3
SCORSESE
Goodfellas
The Aviator
The Departed
Hugo
SHYAMALAAAAAAN!
Unbreakable
Signs
The Village
Lady in the Water
The Happening
SMITH
Clerks
Mallrats
Chasing Amy
Dogma
Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back
Jersey Girl
Cop Out
Red State
SPIELBERG
Schindler's List
Minority Report
Catch Me If You Can
The Adventures of Tintin
TARANTINO
Jackie Brown
Death Proof
Inglourious Basterds
Django Unchained
WACHOWSKI STARSHIP
Speed Racer
Cloud Atlas
ZEMECKIS
Forrest Gump
NON-FRANCHISE
I know some of these are part of franchises, but I'm just listing the first one as a starting point, especially in those cases where a sequel hasn't yet been released.
Also, I may divide these into genres or something, but for now, blah.
*Batteries Not Included
A Clockwork Orange
Adaptation
Alice in Wonderland (1951)
Almost Famous
American Beauty
American Graffiti
American History X
Annie Hall
Apocalypse Now
Argo
Battle Los Angeles
Battlefield Earth
Battleship
Be Kind Rewind
Beauty and the Beast
Being John Malkovich
Ben-Hur
Bicentennial Man
Big Trouble in Little China
Black Hawk Down
Blade Runner
Boogie Nights
Book of Eli
Braveheart
Brotherhood of the Wolf
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Casablanca
Chicago
Chronicle
Citizen Kane
Collateral
Contagion
Cube
Death to Smoochy
Demolition Man
Detention
Disturbia
Domino
Dragonheart
Dumb and Dumber
Dune
Eagle Eye
Equilibrium
Face/Off
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Flight of the Navigator
Forrest Gump
Four Rooms
Freaks
Garden State
Gattaca
Gladiator
Godzilla
Gone with the Wind
Good Will Hunting
Groundhog Day
Heat
High Fidelity
Hot Fuzz
How to Train Your Dragon
I, Robot
In Bruges
Iron Sky
JFK
Judge Dredd
Juno
K-PAX
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Kung Fu Hustle
Kung Pow: Enter the Fist
L.A. Confidential
Labyrinth
Last Action Hero
Lawrence of Arabia
Leap of Faith
Liar, Liar
Lockout
Lucky Number Slevin
Man on Fire
Mary Poppins
Memento
Moneyball
Mortal Kombat
Moulin Rouge
My Favorite Martian
Network
October Sky
Office Space
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Platoon
The Poseidon Adventure
Poseidon
Primer
Rain Man
Rambo (First Blood)
Rango
Real Genius
Real Steel
Robot & Frank
Rock of Ages
Rocky
Rocky Horror Picture Show
Romeo + Juliet
Saving Private Ryan
Seven Psychopaths
Shrek
Sin City
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Skyline
Snow White (1951)
Snow White and the Huntsman
Space Cowboys
Stardust
Stargate
Stranger Than Fiction
Super Mario Bros.
Synecdoche, NY
Taken
Tangled
Ted
Thank You For Smoking
That Thing You Do!
The Big Chill
The Black Hole
The Dark Crystal
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)
The Emperor's New Groove
The Fugitive
The Game
The Green Mile
The Grey
The Host (Korean)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunger Games
The Iron Giant
The Last Starfighter
The Lion King
The Little Mermaid
The Magnificent Seven
The Master
The Patriot
The Professional (Leon)
The Road to El Dorado
The Rocketeer
The Sandlot
The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad
The Shawshank Redemption
The Spirit
The Sting
The Ten Commandments
The TV Set
The Usual Suspects
Top Gun
Total Recall (1990)
Total Recall (2012)
Troy
True Lies
Ultraviolet
United 93
Van Helsing
What Dreams May Come
Willow
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Wreck-It Ralph
OCTOBER (SCARY) MOVIES
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
American Psycho
An American Werewolf in London
Attack the Block
Beetlejuice
Body Snatchers (1993)
The Invasion
Carrie (1976)
Child's Play
Cloverfield
Corpse Bride
Creepshow
Death Becomes Her
Donnie Darko
Dreamcatcher
Evil Dead
Evil Dead 2
Army of Darkness
Halloween (1978)
Halloween (2007)
Hellraiser
Hocus Pocus
In the Mouth of Madness
Interview with the Vampire
Killer Klowns from Outer Space
A Nightmare on Elm St. (1984)
A Nightmare on Elm St. (2010)
Paranormal Activity
Let Me In
Misery
Paranorman
Pet Sematary
Pet Sematary 2
Poltergeist
Prince of Darkness
Pumpkinhead
Rosemary's Baby
Saw
Scream
Sleepy Hollow
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
The Descent
The Exorcist
The Fog (1980)
The Fog (2005)
The Lost Boys
The Thing (2011)
The Twilight Zone
Tremors
Trick 'R' Treat
V/H/S
Young Frankenstein
HOLIDAY MOVIES
A Christmas Story
Bad Santa
Gremlins 2: The New Batch
Polar Express
Home Alone
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
It's a Wonderful Life
Lethal Weapon
Love Actually
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Scrooged
The Santa Clause
Closing this version of the thread and getting a fresh start with a new one, so we don't have to trawl through to see what's been suggested.
An interesting thing I’ve noticed about Hollywood history: the most infamous box office bombs are often not as bad — to me, anyway — as their infamy would imply. Some of them even manage to evolve into classics, but the ones that don’t — removed a few years from expectation and the swirling rumorsphere of behind-the-scenes drama — taken on their own, many of them are perfectly fine movies.
WATERWORLD, for example, is a perfectly fine movie. If its budget hadn’t gotten famously out of hand it probably would’ve been successful, if not wildly so. But the prevailing narrative of creative hubris and throwing good money after bad overwhelmed it, spoiling the word of mouth before anyone had even bothered to see it, and to this day its title can be used as a shorthand for Hollywood folly (supplanting the previous reigning champ, HEAVEN’S GATE).
JOHN CARTER is a fine movie. A little dull, fails to sufficiently update the material for a modern audience, but man, I have seen way, way worse. Hell, I saw way worse the same year starring the same guy. It’s not that JOHN CARTER was especially bad — it’s just that it wasn’t especially good, either. Not good enough to overcome the narrative surrounding it, of rewrites and bad marketing and an ever-ballooning budget.
Now, let's talk about JACK THE GIANT SLAYER.
JTGS isn’t a tremendously bad movie. It just isn’t a good one. Less a reimagining of Jack and the Beanstalk than a fairly straightforward retelling with more characters and action, the film’s worst sin is its simple failure to bring anything significantly new to the table. Despite the added characters and action, despite the expansion of the mythology to facilitate a more expansive plot, if you’ve seen pretty much any movie since and/or including STAR WARS, JTGS holds no surprises.
It’s Hero’s Journey 101 — the simple farmboy who through an adventure becomes a great hero, and there’s a princess somewhere in there too. You know who the good guys are, you know who the bad guys are, you know what all of them are going to do at every step of the way and you’re just waiting for the film to get it over with. It cribs a number of beats from other films, including a horses-fleeing-giant-monsters sequence straight out of LORD OF THE RINGS, and a few moments I recognized from, of all things, RETURN TO OZ. The film does exactly one unexpected thing, right at the end, but it’s only unexpected because it’s out of left field and stupid.
If I had to name the film’s second worst sin, I would have to say it’s that the villain’s plan makes no sense. In expanding the mythology, the filmmakers have added to the magic beans the concept of a magic crown which allows the wearer to command the giants.*
(* I should point out that the crown is not what could be considered a “second magic bean,” as both the crown and the beans themselves were created by a cult of monk-wizards. But there is still an irony, in that the film with literal magic beans makes an attempt to justify them.)
So what the villain (played by Stanley Tucci, doing what he can with what little he’s given) plans to do is use the magic beans to raise a beanstalk to the land of the giants, and there take command of them as an army to conquer first the kingdom of Cloister, where the story takes place**, and then all the lands around it.
(** And the name of which I only remember because it’s so on the nose, what with the generic Princess feeling trapped in her life of wealth and plenty while peasants like Jack live on the verge of starvation. And I’m supposed to sympathize with her for some reason.)
Setting aside that "rule/destroy the world" villain schemes don’t really make any sense to me in general, two aspects of the setup in this particular film result in it making even less sense.
1) He already has both the magic beans and the crown in his possession. The story gets kicked off when one of the monk-wizards steals the beans from him, and gives them to Jack before being caught. Jack takes them home, his uncle throws them out, they grow -- you know the story. But... if the dude already secretly had both the beans and the crown, what was he waiting for?
2) The villain in question is, at the start of the story, betrothed to the princess. He’s already in line to become king. All he has to do is continue to play the waiting game and he’ll be the legitimate ruler of Cloister, able to command and conquer to his heart’s content without even bothering with the giants.
All told, there’s very little reason for the Tucci character to even exist in the story, except that without him there would be no character even pretending to be an antagonist for most of the story.
If the other actors turn in bland, by-the-numbers performances, it’s just because the characters are written that way. The most interesting performances, to me, actually come from the giants. Something about them doesn’t quite sell in terms of the texturing — I’d have to see it again to be able to articulate exactly what, and that ain’t gonna happen — but the animation of any given “hero” giant has more subtlety and personality than all the human characters put together. Bill Nighy as the giant leader General Fallon is once again unmistakably Bill Nighy tearing it up, no matter how many artists’ hands his performance may have passed through, and honorable mention for animation/performance goes to the “Cook Giant,” as well as Fallon’s rival, the giant Fumm. (Yeah. You see what they do there.)
I appreciate that the film bothered to try to tell a story — it’s sad that I feel it’s worth awarding points on that basis, but there it is — but for the price tag it better blow the fucking doors off the place, and if it’s not going to do it with the story, it better do it with the visuals. But the film is shot and edited in textbook coverage — what I’ve often called “workmanlike” filmmaking — and while the visual effects are very good (except for the animated prologue, a rather embarrassing knock-off of the HELLBOY 2 puppet sequence), the visuals they’re being asked to deliver aren’t especially novel or breathtaking. Even the production design is boring and derivative; despite the way the film so desperately wants to bring the same kind of weight to the fantasy as LOTR, I didn’t get a sense of a deep and thought-out culture. It’s just a bunch of generic armor and banners and leopard print trim, and Nick Hoult’s “peasant” garments looked almost identical to the jeans and hoodie he wore in WARM BODIES.
In the world of the film at the time of this story, the kingdom has made the mistake of letting history fall into legend, of believing the giants to be nothing but a story, or forgetting about them entirely. And it suggests in the end that, following the story, the world has made the same mistake. They (spoiler for the stupid thing at the end: WE!) have forgotten, and may someday pay the price.
I would suggest, to the contrary, that quickly and completely forgetting this film ever happened is the wisest — and kindest — course of action.
If that's an example of the artistic ability of the VFX guy who created it, I think I've found his problem.
I lol'd. But it's not necessarily true. I can't draw for shit, either.
Ideally, there would be some wireless card thing that automatically transfers the photos as I take them.
EDIT: Is Associate different than what we had back in the day? We had a "Store" that had things manually added to it, and when I added a particular high-ticket item that was only every looked-at / bought once, immediately after adding it to said "Store," I got the email.
Creating a link to a product page is different from placing a product in a storefront, but they're both done through Amazon Associates.
It takes five seconds to generate a link via Associates, and if anyone buys the product through your link or any other product during the same session that began with your link, you get a kickback.
EDIT: That's my understanding, anyway.
Pay no attention to Teague. Buy through our link.
Or if he insists on refusing money, feel free to buy through mine.
I personally find I much prefer the iPad mini, myself. What do you plan to use it for?
And the demo tape itself is a setup - (I believe) it's the same tape he later uses to melt George's brain. (I admit I could be wrong on this one).
I'm pretty sure it's a Van Halen tape.
In The Fellowship, it seemed like Gandalf just let go at Khazad-Dum.
He did. He didn't want them endangering themselves by trying to help him.
Also, the post brings up a good point about women feeling uncomfortable in comic book shops. I've been going to the same comic book store since I was 11, but I still get guys trying to explain to me how things work
For those not hip to the lingo, what Allison describes here is what feminists mean when they refer to "mansplaining."
and religion.
Yeah, that's where it loses me. But that's just me I guess.
Friends In Your Head | Forums → Posts by Dorkman
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