Topic: The Movie Thread

@KALofKRYPTON @KratosMD I’d have to agree on the watching 2001 more than once if you really want to ever like it. That movie is sorta weird. I won’t spoil it, but there are some instantly gratifying plot points and drama, but there is a lot of strange sub-narrative that can be offputting, depending how “in the mood” you are for a symbolic and cryptic experience. But it’s a space odyssey, so given your interest in Star Wars and Star Trek, it might click for you. But it is absolutely NOTHING like either of those Sci-Fi classics.

@Th3solution @KratosMD Closest any of them come is Star Trek: The Motion Picture - and even then it's largely stylistic.

Once you're done with 2001, give Naked Lunch a try.

@KratosMD 2001 is... dense. Not one of my favorite films, but I do appreciate what it was going for. It requires a lot of patience, though, so just sort of settle down and let it wash over you the first time through, I'd say.

Glad you enjoyed Jaws.

@KratosMD absolutely.

@KratosMD Yeah, my vote would be to go ahead and watch 2001: A Space Odyssey at least once. But it’s very possible that you may have the same response I did — which was, I did not like it at all after seeing it the first time. Found it boring and slow to develop and confusing. Then after watching it the second time I found it to be quite deep and fulfilling. The two viewings were separated by a couple years so it could be my frame of mind and maturity level that made the difference, who knows. But it’s kind of a rite-of-passage type movie for geeks and nerds. That music. You gotta see where that iconic Space Odyssey music comes from, if nothing else. That alone is reason enough. Plus the cultural references and quotes from it that you’ll at least be exposed to.
Kind of like when I watched “Chariots of Fire” and am glad I did just so I can identify the cultural reference of that awesome musical score. The movie itself it rather disliked and found boring.

@RogerRoger Nice work. Yeah, it’s kind of like after seeing Episode 4 in succession after watching “Rogue One”, suddenly “A New Hope” rose in my mind to be a better movie after seeing the context.
I do think Episode 3 is my favorite of the prequels, because everything comes together. And the romance is less cheesy
When Padme says, “Anakin you’re breaking my heart! You’re going down a path I cannot follow!” I actually felt like there was a relationship there, as opposed to dialogue between the two in the others.

@KratosMD Yeah, 2001 is worth watching. Even if you don't like it, I feel like it'll still have been worth your time. Kubrick's films are still a huge part of our shared Western cultural landscape.

And, you know... you might really like it! Some people think Kubrick is one of the greatest directors in the history of the medium.

@RogerRoger I mostly enjoyed Batman Ninja, although I'll admit that, near the end, it got a bit too stupid for me. And that's a pretty hard threshold to cross. I don't regret watching it, though, and it was definitely more enjoyable than something comparably dour like Gotham by Gaslight.

With all due respect, though, the best animated Batman film of all time is most definitely still the stellar Mask of the Phantasm. I also really liked Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. And Batman: Assault on Arkham, which is what Suicide Squad should have been in the first place.

I had pre-ordered Batman Ninja but decided to cancel it when one of my friends said it wasn't very good. :/

@RogerRoger Thanks. I might buy it eventually but not now since I'm a huge Batman fan and samurai/ninja genre as well. To be honest, I'm not a big fan of CGI animes but when I first saw the trailer I was really looking forward to watching it, which is why I decided to pre-ordered it. My friend then told me that some parts of the movie were pretty stupid, so I went to read some reviews and they were pretty mixed.

@WanderingBullet Batman Ninja is worth a go. I enjoyed it, it is bonkers and all the better for it.

DC rarely fumble when it comes to the animated stuff, and even when they do (Death & Return of Superman) they acknowledge it and correct it.

The latest Death of Superman is nicely done. Not particularly ground-breaking in any way, but re-tells the story to fit in with the animated feature New 52(ish) timeline. It's well acted, nicely written and does the work to set up Reign of the Superman/Return in a pretty snappy run-time.

I managed to watch Ready Player One at the weekend. And, to keep it brief - what a piece of crap. I was actually staggered at, not only how poorly adapted the film is in almost every way, but at the utter lack of emotional resonance. It didn't even feel at all like Spielberg was involved.
I understand that licencing, or the lack of it will have played a key part in what could make it in to the film and what couldn't. But even then, what's left is an incredibly shallow, even hollow notion of what the book - not exactly a sprawling master work - is. Very disappointing.

I also got to see Tag. Which was a blast.

@KALofKRYPTON I’ll agree with you that RPO was a poor adaptation and did lack some of the emotional impact. It felt rushed, as many book to movie adaptations can be. But the eye candy was nice, as were some of the gaming references. I managed to get a little bit of enjoyment out of it.

@Th3solution honestly, I'm not sure I can think of a worse direct adaptation I've seen.

There were a few fun references, but it was just throw away fan service every time; fleeting glimpses: RoboCop; Spartans; Chun Li - the utter dedication that must have been employed to license and model Serenity for her all to brief cameo speaks volumes that the film was a contractual obligation for most involved. Wreck It Ralph did a better job, it celebrated everything it managed to put on screen.

It's not only the lack of much resembling the story from the book. The whole thing drips with laziness. Even the depiction of people using VR so meticulously described in the book is junked: because reasons and this treadmill looks cool... And the people fighting in VR in the streets...

It's rare that a film I decide to watch seems so utterly devoid of a soul and apologetic for its existence. RPO doesn't even work well as the pure popcorn movie the producers clearly wanted it to be.

@KALofKRYPTON 2 hours of your life you’ll never get back. Lol
What about Eragon? I never read the book or saw the movie but the word on the street was that it was an abysmal adaptation.

@Th3solution too right. I'm glad I read it beforehand. Wouldn't have on the strength of the film.

I've seen bits of Eragon. Wasn't great, but it at least has the caveats of being based on the first novel by a teenaged author and a directorial debut to boot.
Pretty fair adaptation I reckon.

Seriously though, I am genuinely struggling to think of an adaptation gone so fundamentally wrong. The Hobbit films are pretty bad; there are several Steven King based duffers (The Tommy knockers being possibly the worst) but really, I can't think of much that does everything so badly.

@RogerRoger That's inspiring me to start an 'Unpopular Comics Opinion' thread, lol: The Killing Joke isn't very good.

The Killing Joke is a bad film, but it is most definitely a worse comic. I find Moore relatively hit & miss; his original work is usually solid, existing character properties rarely fare particularly well.

Firstly, the story is boring. The characterisations are rote at best and brings absolutely nothing to the table but starting off DC's exacerbatingly poor treatment of the Batgirl character.

The implied rape is at best crass, and at worst an ugly (and unlikely) slashfic fantasy.

Moore characterises and writes The Joker poorly. His dialogue is intended to be sharp, intelligent and witty - but it never moves beyond Moore's egotistical notions of what any of that is.

The film suffers from all of these things of course. It's certainly a case where diverging from the source would've helped the story leaps and bounds; instead they compounded the whole thing in to an even more severe mess with... Well, actually in keeping with the source material - more creepy slashfic.

I'm certain that given the time and a free hand, Bruce Timm could salvage the story and make something of it. I'd say they're best leaving it alone and producing one of the better recent Batgirl stories.

@Kidfried It's easily the most overrated comic ever written. Bolland's art is great. A Death In The Family is better, Year One is Better, Hush is way better, Knightfall is better.
The majority of The Shadow of the Bat run is better.

The Joker 'origin' is the best take away. And TDKR arguably did more to shape modern Batman. As I say, adolescent slashfic and boring attempts at 'insanity'. I liked it when I was kid, but that's probably more down to the art being better than TDKR (I was 8). Compare the lacklustre prattle of Moore's Joker with that of say, V - two very different characters yes, but V has his own voice, purpose and sense of character. Moore's Joker is a thoroughly two dimensional depiction of someone's idea of insanity.

When was the last time you read it? The movie didn't bomb just because of the Batman relationship nonsense. You watch and realise how utterly wasted the cast is reading the lines. They've all had better dialogue in any given episode of TAS. And as what's likely Hamill's last turn as the Clown Prince, that's really sad.

Like Watchmen, it is revered by many who maybe read it once, or have a poster or are aware of it via pop-culture osmosis. Watchmen is good, and like TKJ at least brought attention to the format - but it is far from a masterpiece.

Moore peaked with The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the sequel is decent too.

@RogerRoger Yeah, I read that the main characters are CGI but the extras are hand drawn. Also, there was one (Joker) part where it was fully hand drawn?

@Kidfried I like The Killing Joke - there is a context to when it was written and the impact it had.

Overall, I think a lot of the Joker/Batman dynamic that we think of today and that, for example, The Dark Knight film focused on was the symbiotic relationship between Batman and The Joker. Between The Killing Joke and Miller's Dark Knight Returns, this relationship developed which really made the Joker/Batman dynamic more than just an average villain.

@Kidfried Miller isn't a great writer either really, though his work always suffers for his artwork. TDKR works because is really was seminal, but if you've read any of the follow up stuff - it's all pretty poor.

Morrison and Loeb tend to handle Batman (and anyone, really) well, Snyder does write him really well too.

TKJ, WM and TDKR are all important for the format, they were certainly significant moments in time. Of the 3, Watchmen is the only one that really comes close to living up to it's hype and reputation.

As a kid back in the early 90s, I had little idea that TKJ was considered such a seminal work - notorious yes, but having spent so long reading other, better Batman stories - it never ceases to amaze me how many people fawn over it.

@RogerRoger Miller is a bit of a train wreck. I remember desperately hunting down the RoboCop comics he wrote based on what was meant to be his original RoboCop 2 script. Good job they didn't try to film it really, terrible.
He gets worse with age. The sequels to TDKR are utter pap! It is truly a seminal work, but he does himself no favours. Ronin is pretty good, but again - marred by his presentation.

I don't just lament Barbara - but the Batgirl mantle too. pre Crisis (On Infinite Earths) she was pretty great. Post Crisis DCc essentially abandoned her and let Moore use her as a plot device. The post credit is a nice addition - as I don't think BG (ha! I'd never noticed that!) was actually shown to be Oracle for while after TKJ; perhaps a diversity afterthought - but more Barb is always good - and I do agree that the opportunity to use her as Oracle was well taken.
But then Cassie Cain and Stephanie Brown(?) Batgirls happen. CC was great early on, then binned off. I'm not sure I actually read anything of Stephanie Brown, but again - she didn't last long either.

Do read Hush. from a structure point of view, it's actually very basic. But it's so well written, and beautifully drawn - well up there with All Star Superman.