Re: The even-newer film thread – MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! : Fri Feb 01, 2013 4:33 pm  

Cronus wrote:

Joseph Dredd has an extensive and interesting back-story going back to before his conception. Despite his outer shell he suffers from internal conflict at times and questions his role as a Judge, even quitting a few times. He is far from just a 'Judge'.

There's probably a whole generation who know very little of any of this, and probably just saw a shoot-'em-up.

I think you may be expecting too much from the first in what will undoubtedly become a franchise; I actually liked the fact that they didn't fall for the usual superhero film error of giving over the first 45 minutes to the protagonists origin story, and just got on with it; if it left you wanting to know more about Dredd, job done, you'll be positively salivating for the next one.

I very much approved of the self-contained nature of the story - it assumes that the audience is bright enough to work things out for themselves; if more comic-movie conversions were done that way, less of them would be garbage, which many of them are, with a few notable exceptions - this, for me, was one of them.

Re: The even-newer film thread – MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! : Fri Feb 01, 2013 5:08 pm  

bren2k wrote:

I think you may be expecting too much from the first in what will undoubtedly become a franchise; I actually liked the fact that they didn't fall for the usual superhero film error of giving over the first 45 minutes to the protagonists origin story, and just got on with it; if it left you wanting to know more about Dredd, job done, you'll be positively salivating for the next one.

I very much approved of the self-contained nature of the story - it assumes that the audience is bright enough to work things out for themselves; if more comic-movie conversions were done that way, less of them would be garbage, which many of them are, with a few notable exceptions - this, for me, was one of them.

Well I disagree. It was a pretty vacuous story. Lots of guns and blood, little 'Dredd' substance.

And I don't know where you're getting the idea I want 45 minutes of an 'origin' story. I don't, never said I did. But character development is a golden rule of film-making, you need to connect and relate to the protagonists or you just don't care what happens. It can be done gradually, hinted at, revealed slowly, worked into the plot. There were teeny tiny pieces of this in Dredd but nothing to titilate.

And what about those who know little of Dredd? What was there to grab them unless they're familiar with the comics? I'd say very little. How can they be 'intelligent' enough to work things out if there's nothing given away? It's ok for us who grew up with 2000AD, we know who and what we're watching, but many people won't.

I enjoyed the film for what it was - a futuristic shoot 'em up. But it didn't leave me wanting more. Art is subjective so we don't have to agree but for me it was a mile away from the comic book vision.

Re: The even-newer film thread – MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! : Sat Feb 02, 2013 9:21 pm  

B0NES wrote:

Not particularly a fan of Quentin Tarantino's movies but I did enjoy Django Unchained . I found the scene of the pre KKK riders complaining about their eye holes quite funny , Python esq even . Christoph Waltz again plays a very good part as I enjoyed his part in Basterds.

I'm a huge fan of Tarantino and I thought it was his best film since Pulp Fiction. It just seemed to ooze quality. Samuel L. Jackson's part reminded me of Waldorf from The Muppet Show for some reason.

Re: The even-newer film thread – MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! : Sun Feb 03, 2013 12:04 am  

Cronus wrote:

[I enjoyed the film for what it was - a futuristic shoot 'em up. But it didn't leave me wanting more. Art is subjective so we don't have to agree but for me it was a mile away from the comic book vision.

Fair play - I didn't see it that way myself.

I wonder if 2000AD will be mined for further movies? I understood that there was a Rogue Trooper film in the pipeline at one point, but not sure what happened with that. I've always thought Halo Jones could make a great movie, but given Alan Moore's ambivelant relationship with Hollywood, that seems unlikely; probably for the best - it could easily turn out to be another Tank Girl.

Re: The even-newer film thread – MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! : Sun Feb 03, 2013 12:39 pm  

Cronus wrote:

And I even thought the choice of 'baddies' was poor. Spoiler: Just a drugs gang led by a scarred ex-hooker? When Dredd's enemies have included undead Judges, mutants, robots, entire armies and various terror weapons, it all felt a bit lame. I suppose it leads nicely towards the next film but left me unsatisfied.

You don't put your best storylines in the first film, well you don't when it's as epic as Judge Death. That'd be like putting The Joker in as your first villain in a Batman film and I don't think that works. If you're doing a franchise I like the idea of the first film setting the scene rather than putting all your cards on the table with the best characters because that kills any other follow-up films doesn't it? i.e. they'd be an anti-climax after Judge Death.

Re: The even-newer film thread – MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! : Sun Feb 03, 2013 1:10 pm  

bren2k wrote:

Fair play - I didn't see it that way myself.

I wonder if 2000AD will be mined for further movies? I understood that there was a Rogue Trooper film in the pipeline at one point, but not sure what happened with that. I've always thought Halo Jones could make a great movie, but given Alan Moore's ambivelant relationship with Hollywood, that seems unlikely; probably for the best - it could easily turn out to be another Tank Girl.

Rogue Trooper was probably my favourite 2000AD character. I would imagine making the various unseen characters work would be a cinematic nightmare, but would love to see a film.

Another one I'd like to see but would be very difficult to do justice to, would be Charley's War. My favourite comic strip of them all. Tragic, haunting, relentless and astoundingly violent - doubt it would be deemed suitable for kids these days.

McClennan wrote:

You don't put your best storylines in the first film, well you don't when it's as epic as Judge Death. That'd be like putting The Joker in as your first villain in a Batman film and I don't think that works. If you're doing a franchise I like the idea of the first film setting the scene rather than putting all your cards on the table with the best characters because that kills any other follow-up films doesn't it? i.e. they'd be an anti-climax after Judge Death.

A little presumptuous to assume they'll be successful enough suddenly create a franchise, ain't it? I didn't say Judge Death should have been included, but they could've come up with something a little more adventurous than that. It just came across as a lack of imagination. Shaping and limiting your plot based on there being sequels just leaves me feeling cheated.

Re: The even-newer film thread – MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! : Sun Feb 17, 2013 2:08 pm  

Tonight / 11-05pm/BBC2

Re: The even-newer film thread – MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! : Mon Feb 18, 2013 2:00 pm  

The guy who wrote Zero Dark Thirty is a co-writer on In The Valley of Elah. I concur with the recommendation. On ZDT I thought it was excellent. Had more of a kick to it than Argo.

Re: The even-newer film thread – MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! : Fri Mar 29, 2013 6:58 pm  

The excellent Jennifer Lawrence in the very dark Winter's Bone on BBC2 tonight.

Re: The even-newer film thread – MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! : Mon Apr 01, 2013 11:04 am  

Watched Trance the other day. It's as good a British film as I've seen in a while certainly worth a watch. Although there's one or two many plot twists for my liking.