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Absolutely fantastic movie. We all know how this event ended, but you are so drawn in that it keeps you on the edge of your seat all the way through. Once you get on board this train, you can't get off, it just keeps on rolling faster and faster. No time is wasted on endless discussions and planning, it just keeps happening.
Notice in particular this testament to Tom Hanks world class ability: In the last five minutes of the movie, there is a seemingly routine interaction between an emotionally suffering Tom Hanks and a Navy nurse (An actual Navy nurse, not an actress, who is perfect for this scene) in which Tom Hanks quietly builds up an emotional crescendo that takes the movie to a completely unexpected new level that almost seems to surpass anything seen before in the movie. It will literally pick you up and throw you against the wall. And then the movie ends.
Ender's Game, on the other hand, was awesome. I didn't have especially high hopes that it would turn out well, so I was completely blown away by just how perfectly they nailed the adaptation. It's admittedly aimed a bit more towards the "young adult" crowd, but it still manages to be intense and serious while moving along at a pretty brisk pace. The special effects and performances by the cast are all basically stellar as well.
Unfortunately, the story had to be streamlined a bit in the interests of running time, but I wouldn't say that the omission of a few sub-plots really hurts the main narrative too much. The film's probably the best adaptation a fan of the book could possibly hope for.
I agree, it was a good movie. The visuals and design (a nod to the illustrator who's done a fantastic number of sci-fi book covers) were great, the battle room was just as I imagined when reading the book and I'm going to guess the soundtrack was by the same guy who did Batman Begins (just looked it up -- nope, it wasn't, but it was still very good). The human component is a little weak: the emotional elements are never particularly compelling as Ender moves through the training program, notably in how he he gradually earns the loyalty of his classmates and superiors.
Seargent: "I'm going to yell at you disproportionately to your peers right now! Gimme 20 pushups!"
Ender: "Bite me!"
Seargent: "Gimme 20 more!"
Ender: "Okay."
Ender's classmates: "You're our leader now, Ender."
Later,
Ender wins one battle in the battle room, Seargent subsequently salutes him.
Of course, Ender didn't win one battle. He won hundreds of battles, but they don't make that clear in the movie adaptation so it doesn't make any sense why he's promoted so rapidly. That sort of thing plagues a lot of the movie, imo. Oh, I also think it would have been appropriate to recreate the full-bore psychological meltdown he has at the realization he's just destroyed an entire species.
Ender: "Wait, you mean this wasn't a training simulation all along and I just genocided a whole alien planet?"
Harrison Ford: "Yep!"
Ender: "Darn."
Still, all in all a good movie. Bitching notwithstanding, I really did enjoy it.
I agree, it was a good movie. The visuals and design (a nod to the illustrator who's done a fantastic number of sci-fi book covers) were great, the battle room was just as I imagined when reading the book and I'm going to guess the soundtrack was by the same guy who did Batman Begins (just looked it up -- nope, it wasn't, but it was still very good). The human component is a little weak: the emotional elements are never particularly compelling as Ender moves through the training program, notably in how he he gradually earns the loyalty of his classmates and superiors.
Seargent: "I'm going to yell at you disproportionately to your peers right now! Gimme 20 pushups!"
Ender: "Bite me!"
Seargent: "Gimme 20 more!"
Ender: "Okay."
Ender's classmates: "You're our leader now, Ender."
Later,
Ender wins one battle in the battle room, Seargent subsequently salutes him.
Of course, Ender didn't win one battle. He won hundreds of battles, but they don't make that clear in the movie adaptation so it doesn't make any sense why he's promoted so rapidly. That sort of thing plagues a lot of the movie, imo. Oh, I also think it would have been appropriate to recreate the full-bore psychological meltdown he has at the realization he's just destroyed an entire species.
Ender: "Wait, you mean this wasn't a training simulation all along and I just genocided a whole alien planet?"
Harrison Ford: "Yep!"
Ender: "Darn."
Still, all in all a good movie. Bitching notwithstanding, I really did enjoy it.
I agree. The "chosen one" angle came on just a tad too strong, which made the first half of the movie a bit goofy to sit through. However, I honestly don't see how it could've been avoided. There was simply no way that they were going to be able to fit the six something years of Battle School that were covered in the book into a two hour movie.
They might have pulled it off in a mini-series format (which would actually be a good option for a future adaptation), but that likely would've meant a pretty major cut in terms of effects and casting quality.
Also, wasn't Ender's decision to destroy the planet a ploy to deliberately get himself flunked out of training in the book, because he was having a nervous breakdown? I haven't read the book in almost a decade, so I can't say for sure, but I seem to remember this being the case.
I agree. The "chosen one" angle came on just a tad too strong, which made the first half of the movie a bit goofy to sit through. However, I honestly don't see how it could've been avoided. There was simply no way that they were going to be able to fit the six something years of Battle School that were covered in the book into a two hour movie.
They might have pulled it off in a mini-series format (which would actually be a good option for a future adaptation), but that likely would've meant a pretty major cut in terms of effects and casting quality.
Also, wasn't Ender's decision to destroy the planet a ploy to deliberately get himself flunked out of training in the book, because he was having a nervous breakdown? I haven't read the book in almost a decade, so I can't say for sure, but I seem to remember this being the case.
I've read it a bit more recently and yes, you're absolutely right, he Little Doctored the planet to flunk out. As for "The One," I think it's a bit less the movie's fault and more to do with the fact that movies have been saturated with that sort of thing for the last fifteen odd years, Neo of course being the most obvious example. I know there are more but I'm drawing a blank right now. I'm sure they'll come to me later.
Give the mini-series to the guys who made Battlestar Galactica and it's good. Give it to that ass hat who made The Shining into a five part miniseries and it's doomed.
I've read it a bit more recently and yes, you're absolutely right, he Little Doctored the planet to flunk out. As for "The One," I think it's a bit less the movie's fault and more to do with the fact that movies have been saturated with that sort of thing for the last fifteen odd years, Neo of course being the most obvious example. I know there are more but I'm drawing a blank right now. I'm sure they'll come to me later.
Give the mini-series to the guys who made Battlestar Galactica and it's good. Give it to that ass hat who made The Shining into a five part miniseries and it's doomed.
They really should have preserved this element of the story, IMO. It would've made the revelation at the end more tragic. The way things were in the movie, it made Ender seem a bit too blood thirsty.
I also disliked how they cut the subplot with Peter taking over the world while Ender was off in space. I always thought that was a nice touch. :lol:
They really should have preserved this element of the story, IMO. It would've made the revelation at the end more tragic. The way things were in the movie, it made Ender seem a bit too blood thirsty.
I also disliked how they cut the subplot with Peter taking over the world while Ender was off in space. I always thought that was a nice touch. :lol:
Saw "Thor: The Dark World" the other day. It was "okay."
It wasn't as good as the first movie, and no where near as good as the Avengers, but I still found it to be entertaining. All of the performances were solid, and the action was decent enough. Hiddleston in particular was a lot of fun this time around as he played out something of a "redemption arc" with Loki, and Hemsworth did a good job in making Thor seem noble, well intentioned, and likeable.
My only real complaint with the film was that the villain sucked. He never did much of anything to establish himself as an actual threat to the heroes.
He even got his ass handed to him by an old woman at one point. :doh
Basically all he does is stalk around looking all brooding while talking in a really deep, creepy voice. I'm sorry, but we've already seen that shtick this year with Benedict Cumberbatch's Khan in "Star Trek: Into Darkness," and he frankly pulled it off much more effectively.
This guy was simply lame.
I give the movie a fun but forgettable 6.5 out of 10.
Honestly, the main thing I found myself thinking throughout the film was "damn, someone really needs to remake Flash Gordon." :lamo
Well... That, and "Asgard should really invest in a defense strategy that doesn't revolve almost exclusively around hand to hand combat." I'm sorry, but when just one ship's worth of guys with guns is enough to send your entire civilization into crisis, it's probably high time to rethink your military doctrine. :lol:
Honestly, the main thing I found myself thinking throughout the film was "damn, someone really needs to remake Flash Gordon." :lamo
Well... That, and "Asgard should really invest in a defense strategy that doesn't revolve almost exclusively around hand to hand combat." I'm sorry, but when just one ship's worth of guys with guns is enough to send your entire civilization into crisis, it's probably high time to rethink your military doctrine. :lol:
those floating ship/transporters made the same sounds as some the the ships from the Star Wars trilogy. I was just not impressed. Some Natalie Portman or Sif skin would have helped.
The last movie I watched that I thoroughly enjoyed was Midnight in Paris. And not only was the movie a delight, the soundtrack is wonderful too starting with Sidney Bechet
I watched a Tollywood (Tamil Nadu) movie in Pondicherry, India with no subtitles yesterday. It was 3 hours long, which is the standard here, otherwise there will be riots over having paid 50 rupies, or 8 cents for the ticket. The killings, the dancing and singing in between...I actually liked the dancing and singing, but, I just am not sure if it is necessary between running farmers off their land and stabbing all the people in the Ashram.
Very colorful. Supposedly the biggest number of films in the world are now Bolly and Tollywood productions. Still, I could see less at home and be happy. My limit for a movie time sitting is 1 hour and 45 minutes. Afterwards, I start getting agitated.
Saw "World's End" with Simon Pegg the other night. I really enjoyed it.
It was mainly a lot of "guy humor" relating to male relationships, drinking, and the consequences of "growing up" vs choosing not to, but it also had a fairly interesting ideological message which managed to mirror the themes of the main story while also being anti-authoritarian, anti-nanny state, and anti-consumerist all at the same time. That's a pretty rare thing to see in a European made movie to say the least, so I was actually rather impressed.
The sci-fi elements were basically like a really long R-rated episode of Doctor Who, but only without the good Doctor to come rushing in to whimsically make everything right at the end. Needless to say, the ending is a bit more on the dark (or rather, 'bittersweet') side of things because of this fact.
It's British humor, of course, so it is more subdued than the typical American comedy. However, if you enjoyed "Shaun of the Dead," you should enjoy "World's End" as well.
It's about this short order cook who's wife leaves him for an evil drug dealer (Kevin Bacon). At the comic book store, Libby, the quirky nerd who works there (Ellen Page) tells him that she wonders why somebody just doesn't become a real superhero. After his skull is opened up and touched by the finger of God (portrayed by the Flying Spaghetti Monster). He decides to become a real life superhero. He sews a superhero costume and dubs himself the "Crimson Bolt". So he gets into his superhero costume and hides behind dumpsters waiting for crime to happen. That doesn't work out, so he goes to the library to research where all the crime is happening. His first crime fighting effort he gets his ass whooped by a drug dealer.
After that he decides that since he doesn't have superpowers he needs a weapon to fight crime. A pipe wrench. And Libby the comic book nerd girl later becomes his crime fighting sidekick.
That was the second time I saw it and it was just as funny again. It's one of those watch it again movies.
Via Netflix, a PBS documentary on U.S.Grant. The first half dealt with his activities during the Civil War, the last part covered his terms as President. I thought I would be more interested in the the military portion but I found the political segment most interesting.
It dealt mainly with the Reconstruction effort and difficulties that were brought on by that. I doubt any politician during that time would have been able to smooth over the differences that were left over following that conflict.
watched Catching Fire last week, and I loved it. Found out that Mockingjay is going to be split up into two parts (thanks, Twilight) so we won't be finished until 2015.
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