Question about movie?????

[pattrose]

Has anyone seen John Carter? If so, would you tell me what you thought of it? Also,maybe you could give me a list of ten of your favorite sci-fi, action or fantasy movies for the last year or so. TIA. :)

Comments

[briarwood.livejournal.com]

John Carter...it's not bad. I mean, it didn't deserve the panning it got from the critics. The movie sticks close enough to the original novel that it's somewhat on the politically incorrect side but it's well made and has a kick-ass heroine who is not dumb. (The plot is not much different from Avatar. Or Dances With Wolves with superpowers.)

[pattrose.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'm going to get it. LOL I just needed to hear from someone that they enjoyed it. Thanks for the heads up.

[caarianna.livejournal.com]

It's better than the critics would suggest, a bit derivative. I enjoyed it well enough.

[pattrose.livejournal.com]

My son told me it was very good and so exciting, so I'm glad to hear that you liked it.

[tinnean.livejournal.com]

I was disappointed in it. A Princess of Mars was one of my favorite books when I was in my teens, and to see what they did to it left me dissatisfed. Plus the actor they chose to play John Carter did nothing for me. I know, heresy, but there you go. ::sigh::

My younger son, on the other hand, enjoyed it very much. However, he was unfamiliar with the books. I intend to remedy that for his birthday.

I don't go to the movies that much, Patt, and I rarely watch them when they do come on TV, so I can't give you a list of my favs for the past year. Ask me about the 40s and 50s now... *g*

[pattrose.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info, Tinn. It looked good, but what do I know?

[tinnean.livejournal.com]

Rent it or watch it when it comes on TV. I didn't care much for the movie version of To Kill a Mockingbird. :-P

[pattrose.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love To Kill a Mockingbird. Almost as much as the book. Different strokes and all that.

[briarwood.livejournal.com]

Best of the sci-fi movies I've seen in the past couple of years:

Inception - you've got to pay attention, but that's all to the good. A solid, fast-paced movie that credits its audience with enough intelligence to keep up.

Skyline - alien invasion thriller. Not exactly high-brow stuff and the ending is just plain weird, but it's way better than Battle: Los Angeles which had pretty much the same premise and came out at the same time.

Cowboys and Aliens - Daniel Craig in extremely tight pants. Need I say more? A bit of a whacky premise, but they pulled it off.

In Time - better than the critics said it was. It's set in a future where currency is years/days/hours of life. Run out and you're dead, literally.

Real Steel - Hugh Jackman plus boxing robots. Actually much better than it sounds. Kind of a wholesome-family-values-feel-good type move, but with boxing robots.

Lockout - Guy Pierce as a mercenary-type assigned to rescue a pretty girl trapped in a rioting prison - in space. I was expecting a bog-standard shoot-em-up action movie but it's better than that. Some unexpected humour and a solid plot to hold up the action.

The Adjustment Bureau - watch it only if you've never seen Supernatural. Same underlying philosophy as SPN season 5, but with politics instead of monsters and weird men in hats instead of angels. SPN did it better. But it's a good movie if you won't notice the similarities.

And there are the comic-book-superhero movies which may or may not count as sci-fi, depending on your perspective. Iron Man is in my opinion rubbish, but I'm in the minority. Captain America was excellent, as was X-Men: First Class. Thor wasn't bad. Green Lantern was okay if you can get over the "hero" being a total dick (Mark Strong makes an excellent villain, always). Chris Nolan's Batman Begins and The Dark Knight are also excellent. Chronicle got rave reviews but is a piece of crap.

Very recent movies: Avengers is brilliant. So was Prometheus though again I think I'm in the minority opinion there. Cabin in the Woods is horror but has SF elements and is very good, but very dark - not one to watch if you want happy endings. The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider Man are on my must-see list for this summer.

[pattrose.livejournal.com]

Thank you for all of the info. I also loved Avengers. Cant wait for it to be on DVD. I didn't see it in 3D, but I do have a new tv with 3D on it. I don't know how I feel about 3D. I've heard nothing but good things about Prometheus. Can't wait for that to come out on DVD too.

[briarwood.livejournal.com]

The problem with 3D is most of the people making 3D movies don't seem to understand the media. Cameron's Avatar was horrible - too much fast-camera work and not enough depth-of-field: technical issues that translate to migraine in those susceptible (ie me!). Others get carried away with how cool it is to chuck things at the audience.

The way most current 3D movies are made is they're filled in 2D and converted in post-production. So in many cases, the 3D doesn't really add much. But there are exceptions. Sanctum is the most obvious example - it's immersive 3D and I suspect wouldn't work nearly as well in 2D.

Ironically, the best 3D directors tend to be the ones making horror movies. My Bloody Valentine and Underworld: Awakening both did really well as 3D.

Judging from the trailer, the director of the new Spiderman movie does understand the media. I've seen the same trailer in both 2D and 3D and it actually looks like it was made for 3D, and done really well. Also there's a movie coming up that I really want to see in 3D: Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter. It sounds like a terrible movie, but the director is the man who directed Wanted. Wanted was also terrible, but when I came out of that movie my overwhelming impression was it *should* have been 3D. So I want to see how well he does it.

[runriggers.livejournal.com]

I thought the movie was pretty good; I haven't read the books in years (like 20 or more), but thought they did a good job of the overall concept of the books.

[pattrose.livejournal.com]

So far,everyone but Tinnean liked it. I can't wait to see it.