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So finally the trailer for the movie adaption of Ender's Game is here! If none of you guys have read it, its some really great sci-fi and would definitely recommend.
Check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl … 0cUBi4hwE#
I hate being that guy who judges a person based on material (or vice versa, in this case), but fuck Orson Scott Card.
I hate being that guy who judges a person based on material (or vice versa, in this case), but fuck Orson Scott Card.
Don't be. Card is vile, and there's no way in hell I'm giving him money to see this.
Card got his money when it was optioned, so not seeing it hurts him not at all.
I loved Ender's Game. Liked Speaker For the Dead. The only other thing I've read of Card was a strange book he did after Speaker about a boy raised to be a songbird. I've ignored everything of his since then, but go back to re-read Ender's Game. I'll see the movie if I hear good things.
So, am I the only one who thinks it's a bit weird to list every featured cast member as 'Academy Award Something Something' except the actor playing the lead character? He must feel great about that.
Also, who thought it was a good idea to remind the audience that Harrison Ford once didn't win an Oscar? Are we now in an age when having the name 'Harrison Ford' in your movie's cast isn't enough, and it has to be augmented with 'Academy Award Nominee' so that we realize that he's some respectable actor-type person?
Are these post-Fordian times?
The words 'winner' and 'nominee' make no difference but the words 'Academy Award' or even 'Golden Globe', depending on the movie, do.
Are these post-Fordian times?
Yes. Other than Indy 4, Ford hasn't "opened" a movie since What Lies Beneath in 2000. *ahem* Cowboys and Aliens *ahem*
And when your lead is (essentially) an unknown, it's not a bad policy to promote whatever names you can. The fact that there ARE so many high-pedigree actors on board is rather intriguing to me, actually.
Yes, the Ben Kingsley brand is a bit diminished these days, but Viola Davis is quite a "get" - even though she looks like she came straight from the set of Solaris without even changing her costume.
I still think it's a weird sales pitch: spaceships, 'splosions and serious actors, together at last!
Arguably, the BBC did the same thing with the relaunch of 'Doctor Who' when they cast Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor, and had Russell T Davies as head writer. In Hollywood terms, that was like casting Kevin Spacey and having Aaron Sorkin in charge. But although that helped to sell the idea that the show was being taken seriously as a drama to snooty reviewers and jaded forty-somethings, I'll wager it meant nothing at all to the vast majority of the target audience.
Likewise, I suspect that this movie's ideal demographic isn't that interested in serious actors seriously acting up the joint, even though the movie will probably be better for it.
Last edited by fcw (2013-05-08 22:43:33)
But that's exactly the idea - to give adults a reason to get interested in seeing the movie. Take away the Oscar name-checking and you just have a trailer for a 'splode movie about kids in space. (What was the last one of those - Thunderbirds, maybe? Tanked. )
But if you're an audience member who knows who Ben Kingsley is, you'll know that his name on a movie poster today is as much a guarantee of movie quality as Michael Caine's name was back in the 1980s, Oscar or no Oscar.
Moreover, Ford's near-Oscar was almost thirty years ago, with no further Academy recognition since. It might as well say "nearly award-winning star of 1985's blockbuster 'Witness', Harrison Ford" for all the value that adds, at least for me.
Piling all that variously dated Academy recognition up in the trailer actually puts me off a bit, because it's like the trailer makers are grasping at straws by boasting about their actors' resumés to convince me of their movie's worth, rather than using the movie itself to do that.
Next thing ya know, they'll be using bikini chicks to sell beer.
What's next?! They'll be telling us doctors recommend smoking cigarettes!
Hah, preposterous. Why would anyone do a thing like that?
On the other hand, when a bouncy lady who's also an Oscar winner does an ad for beer shampoo, that's a slam-dunk.
Anyway. Orson Scott Card hates gay people.
I have to assume, as I haven't read them, that the later Ender's Game books retcon out the gay subtext in the first book. One of the boys was definitely portrayed as a bit feminine, and our heroes were fine with that.
I have to assume, as I haven't read them, that the later Ender's Game books retcon out the gay subtext in the first book. One of the boys was definitely portrayed as a bit feminine, and our heroes were fine with that.
Well the sequel, Speaker for the Dead, takes place about 3000 years after Ender's Game so....no. I honestly can't remember much about Ender's Shadow, but I doubt there is any gay retconing there either. OSC actually has a few gay characters in his books as far as I remember, and most of his fictional characters don't reflect his personal (notably Mormon) views. His non-fiction essay writing is where the "some of my friends are gay, but..." stuff is located.
The first book also features a very, very violent Ender, while Speaker he is much more subdued and reserved, like the wise old man of the space lanes.
Card got his money when it was optioned, so not seeing it hurts him not at all.
Unless his agent is a complete imbecile, he'll also be getting a cut of the gross receipts. So every ticket purchased is more money in his pocket.
I personally thought the book was garbage before I knew OSC was too, so put em both together and I have no intention of watching this film.
I'm not interested in seeing it because the movie looks lame, but I generally wouldn't hold a person's personal beliefs/actions over their art, no matter how stupid. Whether it's Polanski, or Mel Gibson, or Tom Cruise, if the art is good, I'll watch and support it.
I understand Dorkman's point, though, why should he help line the pockets of a man who publicly and often says his (Mike's) lifestyle choice is wrong? Going by some of the stuff Card has said about Homosexuality (most gay people are the self-loathing victims of child abuse, who became gay through a disturbing seduction or rape or molestation or abuse) I totally understand why people are boycotting him and this movie. And I support it, too. 
And Mel Gibson thinks jews are evil and the holocaust never happened, doesn't make his performance in Lethal Weapon any less awesome, or Apocalypto any less kickass.
Or put another way, its kind of easy to boycott the movie in this case, because the movie/story looks lame and uninteresting to begin with. However, if hypothetically a really good looking movie like Elysium, or Children of Men, had been based on the work of a noted bigot/crazy, and they might slightly profit from it, would you still boycott it? I don't think I would, though its hard to say.
I think that Gibson and Polanski are different stories. Gibson said some heinous things once while drunk. Polanski also did a disgusting thing once. OSC actively and continuously supports a cause that I find despicable. If I buy Rosemary's Baby on DVD, Polanski isn't going to donate his cut to pedophile groups. OSC will use his cut of my ticket for Ender's Game to support anti-gay organizations, and I'm not cool with that.
I just find the whole book of Ender's game to be rather dumb and uninteresting. Some decent concepts in there like the combat training but beyond that it's just not my thing.
Also, we all know how FIYH feel about kids in movies 
The first book also features a very, very violent Ender, while Speaker he is much more subdued and reserved, like the wise old man of the space lanes.
Yes. This is one of those books where it's going to be interesting to see what parts they kept. Having the hero kill two other kids with his bare hands, even in this era of The Hunger Games, might still be too much.
I fully understand boycotting the thing. Card hasn't gotten any of my money in thirty years or so, unless he gets some residuals from re-releases of the Monkey Island game. I love the book, probably because I came to it at the right time as a teen, but I'm more curious with regard to the movie than excited.
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