Hi there,
I can only speak about the movie as i have not read any of the books.
But I´m now interested in the books although I really did not like the movie.
Everything that seemed interesting only got a cursory mentioning-

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I´m a third, i´m not even supposed to be here. I like when movies do not have to spell everything out (ok overpopulation lead to global 2 child policy) but the whole family dynamic seemed to have a lot more in store than just so state: yep all genius, but one a brute one too nice so have a third try, because they seem too much the same age to have the failure of the other lead to conception of the third)

The mind evalution game with the mouse. AND I THOUGHT yeah, finally some real virtual reality that has a meaningfull connection to the real world- and then---- there are images of his siblings in his game, delete it.
That´s for a rewarding pay-off.

Dream communication with the Queen- sorry, but is the queen only trying to communicate with him or others too? Is this some hidden chosen one theme apart from him being the required super genius?

And I really didn´t care for the war room, the whole quidditch game and all. Before going into the first fight i already knew- there is a goal that a single member of the team can accomplish to win even if the team is behind in points over 9000. So what is he going to do? In Potter i did not care for the game either, but at least there was always something going on behind the scenes at the same time.

And the final battle. Ah yeah, there you go, you just saved us. I cant really pinpoint why i was 100% sure the "simulation" would be the real battle even before it started without rewatching it (which i have no intention of doing). Could be I looked one too many times at my watch to realize they only have time for one elaborate battle sequence, but i think it was pretty bland in the movie beforehand. Ah now I remember, Ford even has a line that states something like "we can´t do anything know"- and i think this line even was in the trailer- jeeeeeees, what are you doing, movie.
The twist wouldnt have been good anyway, even if it worked. I dont think it was established very well, that Ender really had no intention to eradicate the enemy- being too compassionate. There are hints that he might not do what command wants him to do, but only because he is smarter than them. The whole "simulation is already the real thing" trick was not asked for by Ender himself questioning the morality of the enterprise enough.
And so the motivation for the ending gets across even more slapped together, because his regret pretty much comes out of nowhere for me.
Leaving aside the fact that there is a queen on the planet and he finds it in walking range of the command center. That is convenient. No, that´s sequel convenient.

btw i really like your name, the story is still one of my favourites by Kipling

Doctor Submarine wrote:

Ewing wrote:

Yeah, there will be other monsters but Godzilla himself is not heroic. It'll be more like Jurassic Park style fights.

That fits in with the whole "Godzilla-as-force-of-nature" idea that the director keeps mentioning. It'll be that scene from Pacific Rim with all the people running to the bunker...but a whole movie where we get to know those characters.

Wait, isn't that basically Cloverfield?

Yeah, except Cloverfield didn't have Walter fucking White.

I still think we completely nailed it with that idea.  Instead of the ending we got, imagine power-hungry Charlize and her demented robo-head half-brother taking off in an alien ship full of gooey death and daddy issues and heading back to Earth.

I want to see that sequel.

So is there more than one monster planned in this film? I'm not sure 'Godzilla fights other monsters' bodes well for a serious and poignant story. Wouldn't that essentially turn Godzilla into a protagonist?

Ok, here's one- True Lies is a bit shit. It is racist, misogynistic rubbish with some admittedly good action but thoroughly unlikeable characters and a middle hour that is so boring, it borders on ridiculous. The first act and the finale are perfectly fine but holy shit that whole 'my wife is cheating on me, let's put her through Hell' storyline is atrocious.

fireproof78 wrote:

Well, that was more to my point. Isn't this just a stripped down, almost boy's version, of a typical Disney movie?

Pretty much. And I have no problem with that.

It doesn't need to be making some grand message about fairy tales. It's doing it's own little thing, telling a funny, charming, story about characters I like watching for 2 hours (Or however long PB is, can't remember). And yes, if it uses the "true love" trope, so what, it's a nice concise way to give the story a push forward. These 2 characters in this universe are destined to be together. "Okay, tell me the story of how that happens." And then it does for 2 hours and it's cute and charming and I have fun.

I am okay with that being a movie. Frankly I would love a couple more of those these days.

On the idea of it being a "love story", maybe I just have a twisted view, but I don't think these kinds of stories (namely true love stories) are even remotely "love" stories. They exist in a universe where these 2 people are destined to be together, and inside their own little universe that's all there is to it. So it's not about them "falling in love" it's about what they have to go through to finally be together, and that's the part that makes it interesting.

To put it a strange way, their love is the macguffin for the story to happen, not something that needs to be explored and questioned in the movie, it's a known quantity.

Personally I don't even know why the idea of parody/satire is in the question at all when it comes to Princess Bride.

It's high concept.

What if there was a fairy tale story, but it's being filtered through a 12 year old boy? Then it tells a fairly by the book fairy tale (True love, a lover whisked away but returns in hiding, the evil prince stealing the true love, the trickster minor villian etc etc). It just so happens that the actual fairy tale they made up is actually really damn good, the characters are likeable and charming, the jokes land, and the action is great. SWo it winds up being a really really good by the numbers fairytale.

Obviously all that is a matter of taste, but I don't really see a need to look beyond that for some deep seated FEELING or MESSAGE it's trying to tell us about fairytales. Outside of this being a unique way of telling a rather good one.

Thing is, you add in the lovey-dovey stuff, and you basically have a renaissance era Disney fairy tale.