darrenm Posted August 16, 2017 Share Posted August 16, 2017 On 15/08/2017 at 15:21, ender4 said: Force Awakens better than Rogue One. On 15/08/2017 at 16:25, Stevo985 said: By a mile. On 15/08/2017 at 16:49, HanoiVillan said: Other way round for me. On 15/08/2017 at 18:00, Chindie said: Neither of them are that great. Rogue One has that exceptional ending and looks amazing. Force Awakens has... Er... I think they're both similarly brilliant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted August 16, 2017 Share Posted August 16, 2017 7 minutes ago, darrenm said: I assume you've seen: No, a guy at work recommended it to me but got the name slightly wrong and I confused it for that shit Johnny depp film Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrenm Posted August 16, 2017 Share Posted August 16, 2017 23 minutes ago, villa4europe said: that shit Johnny depp film 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted August 16, 2017 Share Posted August 16, 2017 25 minutes ago, villa4europe said: I confused it for that shit Johnny depp film God that was so shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post BOF Posted August 17, 2017 Moderator Popular Post Share Posted August 17, 2017 This is brilliant (2m30s). Could just as easily have gone in the youtube hilarity thread too. 5 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trekka Posted August 20, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted August 20, 2017 I watched Tron: Legacy for the first time last night (yes, I'm late to the game). I thought it was pretty well done and Quorra is a delight. I see rumours are still persisting about Tron 3 too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 The Sweeney Passed a couple of hours. 5/10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted August 20, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted August 20, 2017 44 minutes ago, Xela said: The Sweeney Passed a couple of hours. 5/10 Based purely on that poster, that film is dreadful. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted August 20, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted August 20, 2017 (edited) How low would you think Hollywood could go? Red Letter Media spotted this... Remember the Conjuring? The Conjuring was a bizarrely popular horror movie using the 'experiences' of the Warrens, who allegedly were mediums and paranormal investigators who got involved in a few of the more famous haunting cases, particularly during the 70s, as a basis. The studio then ran into a problem. The Warren's big story is Amityville, and even then they basically turned up after the fact and were more building the myth than an anchor of the legend. That story's rights don't belong to the studio that had the rights to the Warrens stories... And the same is true of a bunch of other events the Warrens claim to have been involved in. So to spin out the story, they took one element of the Conjuring story, the Annabelle doll (which looks absolutely nothing like the real thing, which also has one of the stupidest 'spooky' stories imaginable) into its own thing. And then they did a sequel to the Conjuring proper where they took the Enfield Haunting and made the the Warrens part of that (in reality they turned up as the events in London ended for about 5 minutes) by making a completely different story that touches some key elements of the actual events. And now they've made an Annabelle prequel and it's obvious the ideas are running out. So... What do you do if you're a Hollywood exec with a cash cow that is running out of ideas? The director of the Annabelle prequel got the job because he made a spooky YouTube short years ago that then he was given the job of making into a feature, called Lights Out. As part of the promotion for this Annabelle story, they are running a competition for people to make their own scary shorts set in the Conjuring universe. If you win you get to go to meet the director and some execs from the studio. Red Letter Media make shitty low budget films and do movie reviews on YouTube. They thought they'd jokingly enter. Then they read the T&C's. The conditions of entry are nuts. By entering, you agree that the studio has 3 months to decide if they like your idea, and if they do you agree to sell all rights to the idea for at least 3 years for $50, and any and all derivative ideas they grow from your idea. If they then make a movie from the idea, they give you another $50, and no more. So basically you come up with some great idea for a horror movie, and in doing so you give the studio the rights to make whatever they want from it for, at most, $100. Oh and your prize? If the director or a studio exec isn't available, they don't have to give you any substitute for it. So the 'prize' doesn't technically have to exist. words removed. Edited August 20, 2017 by Chindie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Albrighton Posted August 20, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted August 20, 2017 1 hour ago, Stevo985 said: Based purely on that poster, that film is dreadful. On the subject of terrible movie posters/DVD covers, I remember seeing this in HMV and being mesmerised by it. No idea if the film is any good (actually, I do have a pretty good idea). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 On that note: I'm sorry to say I have seen both! "Ave it you slaaaaags!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted August 20, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted August 20, 2017 49 minutes ago, Xela said: On that note: I'm sorry to say I have seen both! "Ave it you slaaaaags!" I mean, if I'd watched every other film that had ever been made I might, MIGHT, watch those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wazzap24 Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 @Xela aside, who is the market for those kind of films these days?! Who actively sits down to watch a film and thinks, I wonder if that new gangster flick with Danny Dyer is any good? Shall we give it a go? Even Pooligan won't watch them for about another 15-20 years, so how the flying do they make any money?! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMelvillan Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 26 minutes ago, wazzap24 said: @Xela aside, who is the market for those kind of films these days?! Who actively sits down to watch a film and thinks, I wonder if that new gangster flick with Danny Dyer is any good? Shall we give it a go? Even Pooligan won't watch them for about another 15-20 years, so how the flying do they make any money?! I'm willing to bet that even Danny Dyer hasn't watched those movies 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCDAN Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 (edited) 31 minutes ago, wazzap24 said: @Xela aside, who is the market for those kind of films these days?! Who actively sits down to watch a film and thinks, I wonder if that new gangster flick with Danny Dyer is any good? Shall we give it a go? Even Pooligan won't watch them for about another 15-20 years, so how the flying do they make any money?! You would imagine that for every Vendetta there is a Football Factory or Mean Machine. For whatever reason they become cult classics and the dvd sales and tv money far outweigh the budget, while also giving newcomers a potential launch pad into the lucrative Hollywood industry. Edited August 21, 2017 by AVFCDAN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogso Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 Right then Some context - an adaptation of this series is as big a deal to me as the adaptation of Lord of the Rings was at the time of it's production and subsequent release for fans of those books. I use that seriesas an example specifically as there are many comparisons, not least the driving force for King writing it in the first place. He had an idea to write an 'American' fantasy epic in the vein of LotR - if we voew LotR to be the definitive 'British' fantasy epic. He couldn't come up with a setting that was distinctly American to set his world in, until he saw...one of Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns at the cinema, I forget which. So he took that setting, took the idea of the 'man with no name' and transplanted them in to his story. At least, he did eventually. The original version of the first book (The Gunslinger) was more or less a stand alone story, until he went back to it and revised it many, many years, when the story of Roland and his Ka-Tet had far surpassed the original work - albeit, becoming exactly what he had hoped to create. The filmic LotR treatment would have been, for me, worthy of this series. To a point it is probably my favourite work of fiction of all. It's clear to practically anyone that that isn't the case, unfortunately. Firstly, the good - McConaughey is excellent. Really, properly brilliant as The Man in Black / Walter. Elba is good and settles in to the role of Roland quickly enough. Early scenes where he is driven by nothing other than his desire to catch The Man in Black are nailed, and he slowly becomes what people expect him to be - The Gunslinger. This echoes events in the books, and the scenes where he goes 'full' Gunslinger are good fun. There are many, many, references to not only the larger Dark Tower series itself, but to a number of works by King. Some will be very clear to non-fans, some are nice little moments for the fans. They mostly work well, and hint at things in a larger universe that pique the curiosity, or raise a knowing smile from Contant Readers. In particular were references to Oy and a small exchange in a scene where Roland sees a talking Raccoon on TV, and the repeated reference to Jake's ability as 'the Shine', which of course is straight from one of King's more celebrated works, both on and off the screen. Believe it or not there are also some smart story choices. For a film that is 90 minutes long (yep, not a typo) the need to have a threat established quickly, and to have some danger pushing the story along is set up quickly, and is more or less taken straight from the books. The interesting thing is that Algul Siento, which becomes the location of the heroes goal, isn't in the book series until very nearly the end. It's a huge gamble, but with it's inclusion to the story it's easy for the viewer - fan or not - to understand why Roland and Jake need to do something right now. Where as the setup for the books is Roland gathering his Ka-Tet (ie. his team) and then making their way to the Tower which takes seven books. It's just not plausible for a film, and as a fan, as soon as I accepted that, I tried to enjoy it. Which leads me to... The negatives. The direction is bog standard, the editing jarring at times (there's one moment in a house where a conversation is taking place and we cut to an empty stairway before the dialogue ends, for no reason whatsoever...uh, what?), and the dialogue is shockingly bad at times. Considering that some of the more obscure sayings from the books are used during the film and they don't seem unusual, it shows how bad some dialogue is at times, as I assure you it will make your face go :/ The worst of it though is the ending. Jeez, man. I'm trying to keep this spoiler-less, so in short, you have the resolution to the threat, a wrap up to the main story line, and a little 'we might make more of these but we don't know so here's a 'there could be more' scene for you' in literally about, what 2 minutes? 3 at most? It's horrific, and leaves a very bad taste in the mouth as you walk out of there. I suspect this is the real reason it's reviewed so badly. As a film before then, ignoring the source material and knowledge of it, it's probably about a 6/10. The ending of the film reduces that significantly. Some may be able to see past it, but it's really difficult to do so. As far as some story changes worked OK-ish, some are just terrible, from a fans perspective. They use an establishment called 'The Dixie Pig' for the showdown at the end. In the book series the Pig is a restaurant where what are basically Vampires gather for essentially cannabalistic food orgies. It's a fantastic moment in the books, but now they can't use that, it seems. There's a bookstore that plays a very significant part in the plot which is placed opposite the Dixie Pig for no reason other than to act as a reference for fans. It's stupid. Some of the key aspects of Roland's world aren't even hinted at, where as others are, which again is really frustrating. One of the things I really hoped for was the air of mystery to be maintained around the Tower itself, and Roland, to a certain extent. They're both pretty much done away with. The Tower is merely an object that protects our universe/s from demons outside of it, and Roland is a soldier who lost a war, his family and friends, and is now hell bent on revenge. Or, actually, maybe it's saving the universe. It isn't established at all well, and ham fisted attempts at tying in some of Roland's back story (the death of his father, the last stand at Jericho Hill, the significance of his guns, his links to Walters past, the Line of Eld and Arther Eld/King Arthur) just don't work. In a way I appreciate the attempts of the producers, they clearly know the story back to front and inside out, to show more of the world and at least try to make things more interesting for the viewer. But sometimes, less is more. Keep the Tower a mystery, keep Rolands motivations and backstory hidden, sure people may have walked out saying 'well the film is called The Dark Tower but we only saw it for a second!', but that's kind of the whole point to the Roland's journey. Case in point - I expect It to be a box office success, which will not concern itself with what It/Pennywise really is, because honestly it's not really important. If that mindset had been taken in to the production of The Dark Tower, but replacing the Tower for It, we would have had a better film, and more importantly for me personally, a better adaptation (and this bit is very important) of the start of Roland's journey. I could rant and rant on this one. It's thread worthy for me, but not most of you guys. So with that in mind... TL;DR - if you're a McConaughey fan you will love him in this, and it might be worth admission price. Elba fans, not so much. If you like fantasy and sci-fi and are not familiar with the films there may just be enough intrigue here to fill an hour and a half. For King fans and DT fans, it's your call, but set the bar, very very low. And for everyone else, ie. those with an unlimited card, or those who like film and enjoy the cinema...there may be something better to use your money and/or time on. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wazzap24 Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 4 minutes ago, AVFCDAN said: You would imagine that for every Vendetta there is a Football Factory or Mean Machine. For whatever reason they become cult classics and the dvd sales and tv money far outweigh the budget, while also giving newcomers a potential launch pad into the lucrative Hollywood industry. I could have that if the ratio was 1:1 or even 1:2/3, but I've just had a quick look at his bio. He's got around 30 film credits and 27 of them are absolute shite! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCDAN Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 I feel as though this article from The Guardian might go some way to explaining it, its 12 years old now but still relevant. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2005/jan/14/1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wazzap24 Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 24 minutes ago, AVFCDAN said: I feel as though this article from The Guardian might go some way to explaining it, its 12 years old now but still relevant. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2005/jan/14/1 Decent read that, albeit a bit old as you say. Nice one. I wonder if the model can survive the move to streaming though? I'm guessing the revenues can't be as good as a % of DVD sales? I suppose it depends on how good you are at selling the rights and how many people are interested in buying them? Either way, it would seem more people love a shite Danny Dyer movie than I ever could have imagined. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PieFacE Posted August 21, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted August 21, 2017 Holy shit... I always thought Bron in Game Of Thrones was Martin Kemp until seeing that film poster a few posts up Anyways, Tried to watch both "Baywatch" and Guardians of the Galaxy 2" over the weekend. Both films were terrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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