Movies to dread

[DasBouf]

I refuse to see anything Snyder does after he butchered Watchmen. That movie was painful to watch from beginning to end.

 

[Johnstantine]

I refuse to see anything Snyder does after he butchered Watchmen. That movie was painful to watch from beginning to end.

Do yourself a favor and watch the Ultimate cut. It's basically an entirely different movie.

 

[DasBouf]

Do yourself a favor and watch the Ultimate cut. It's basically an entirely different movie.

Did they fix the ending in the Ultimate Cut back to the original comic ending? I think that was probably the worst thing about the movie.

 

[Kompozinaut]

I refuse to see anything Snyder does after he butchered Watchmen. That movie was painful to watch from beginning to end.

Other than the change to the ending, I thought it was a really well done adaptation. I only read Watchmen once (a week before the movie came out), so I'm not as intimately familiar with it as say, Berserk, but I don't really follow why it got so much hate.

Did they fix the ending in the Ultimate Cut back to the original comic ending? I think that was probably the worst thing about the movie.

No, the ultimate cut is the same, but they include the Black Freighter scenes (the director's cut doesn't have them, I think), which I think makes an already long movie feel even longer. Keep in mind that there are 3 cuts of this movie. If you've only seen the theatrical cut, you should probably at least give the director's cut a shot.

 

[DasBouf]

I thought it was a really well done adaptation. I only read Watchmen once (a week before the movie came out

This is probably the reason. I've been a fanboy of the comic for a long time, so when I saw the movie I was more disappointed. Perhaps this is why I didn't the GA arc movies as much as everyone else. I'd only been reading Berserk for about 6 months when I saw them and all I'd heard was that they were terrible, so I came out liking them. I suppose it's subjective, but I felt Snyder only took the surface level adaptation of the story, without capturing the meat of what made it special.
It's a damn shame too, because in today's market of nothing but super hero films, I feel like a great Watchmen adaptation would be really good not to mention relevant considering the overarching theme of the comic.

 

[Aazealh]

I suppose it's subjective, but I felt Snyder only took the surface level adaptation of the story, without capturing the meat of what made it special.

No, you're right. The adaptation was tone-deaf and missed out on why Watchmen is a great story.

Perhaps this is why I didn't the GA arc movies as much as everyone else. I'd only been reading Berserk for about 6 months when I saw them and all I'd heard was that they were terrible, so I came out liking them.

Those movies are so objectively bad, though. It can be proven using film theory, or really using whatever metric you want.

 

[Griffith]

No, you're right. The adaptation was tone-deaf and missed out on why Watchmen is a great story.

Perhaps that literal interpretation will make perfect practice for Snyder's Justice League; ya know, when they start murdering each other!

Those movies are so objectively bad, though. It can be proven using film theory, or really using whatever metric you want.

Eyes will do. Though I can understand one not caring much either if not already invested. To us it's a travesty, to Joe Anime it's just another movie, and maybe some objectively good Berserk elements, that we naturally take for granted, shine through the failure and hook people. I'm taking it as a testament to the quality of Miura's work that even when bastardized it's compelling to the uninitiated.

 

[DasBouf]

to Joe Anime it's just another movie.

I'm not Joe Anime right? I don't want to be Joe Anime

Those movies are so objectively bad, though. It can be proven using film theory, or really using whatever metric you want.

I know, and Agree, objectively I'd say it's a 2/5 as an adaptation a 1. For my personal enjoyment I'd say it's a 3. It may look like I white Knight these movies (to be fair I do sometimes) but I really don't think they're great. I showed them to a couple friends and that got them really into Berserk, so I think they're useful in that sense. I just enjoy them as mindless entertainment.

 

[Skeleton]

And I wasn't a fan of the new Godzilla, nor of Pacific Rim (the two movies I saw from your list).

I was so disappointed in the Poltergeist remake that I went ahead and got those movies (as well as The Purges) to make up for it.

I agree with you when it comes to Godzilla. I thought Godzilla looked gorgeous. I feel like they really tried to make him look as real as possible and did an amazing job. Outside of that (and Cranston's performance)? Meh. For a movie about giant monsters fighting each other, it was so... Boring.

I remember how the film's marketing focused heavily on both Bryan Cranston being in the movie and Godzilla himself. So I was surprised that neither Cranston nor Godzilla had much screen time in the film.

I thought Pacific Rim was a decent, entertaining film. To be honest though, outside of watching Gundam Wing as a kid and reading Gigantomakhia, I have no experience with the giant robot genre so some of my enjoyment of the film probably came from experiencing something new.

Del Toro's films are hit-or-"miss" with me. Some are incredible films that I absolutely love such as Pan's Labyrinth and The Devil's Backbone. Others are perfectly decent/good films but there's something del Toro does, something I can't put my finger on, that keeps me from sincerely enjoying them (Hellboy, for example). For me, Pacific Rim isn't quite in that latter category, but it's closer to it than not.

Edit to add: This is a bit anal/nitpicking, but the thing that bothered me about Pacific Rim was that the pilots spent all their time and energy punching/wrestling/throwing the monsters, or using up the limited amount of ammo they have for their big guns, rather than using the sword they apparently had the whole time. The swords the two mechs had were not only insanely more effective at killing but also looked way cooler and were more entertaining to watch used in a fight.

When they used that ship as a makeshift weapon I was thrilled because, despite it being totally unrealistic, the entire movie I was thinking "why aren't they using giant swords/weapons?" It turns out the answer was because they arbitrarily decided not to use them until nearly the end of the film.

 

[Aazealh]

I thought Pacific Rim was a decent, entertaining film. To be honest though, outside of watching Gundam Wing as a kid and reading Gigantomakhia, I have no experience with the giant robot genre so some of my enjoyment of the film probably came from experiencing something new.

Del Toro's films are hit-or-"miss" with me. Some are incredible films that I absolutely love such as Pan's Labyrinth and The Devil's Backbone. Others are perfectly decent/good films but there's something del Toro does, something I can't put my finger on, that keeps me from sincerely enjoying them (Hellboy, for example). For me, Pacific Rim isn't quite in that latter category, but it's closer to it than not.

Edit to add: This is a bit anal/nitpicking, but the thing that bothered me about Pacific Rim was that the pilots spent all their time and energy punching/wrestling/throwing the monsters, or using up the limited amount of ammo they have for their big guns, rather than using the sword they apparently had the whole time. The swords the two mechs had were not only insanely more effective at killing but also looked way cooler and were more entertaining to watch used in a fight.

When they used that ship as a makeshift weapon I was thrilled because, despite it being totally unrealistic, the entire movie I was thinking "why aren't they using giant swords/weapons?" It turns out the answer was because they arbitrarily decided not to use them until nearly the end of the film.

I'm not being a pedant about the giant robot genre here, my beef with it is rather everything other than the giant robots. I thought the plot and dialogue was really pathetically lame at times, and a lot of the actors/characters were outright terrible. I was expecting to love this as mindless entertainment, but its flaws were annoying enough that I just disliked it. Speaking of Del Toro himself, I personally had no beef with his tale on Hellboy; I thought it was pretty decent given how difficult that world is to adapt. But here he just showered the viewer with wacky-weirdo guys (like the two scientists) for no reason whatsoever and it brought nothing to the table. I would have preferred more robot fight scenes and a rivalry between pilots that wasn't on the kindergarten level. Same with the female pilot who's being unfairly kept off duty... I mean come on how hamfisted can you get?

 

[Oburi]

I think most of Del Toro's movies are overrated. I really didn't care for Pacific Rim at all either. But I will say, the Hellboy movies are pretty great, especially the second one. I could watch Hellboy 2 The Golden Army any day. That movie is so damn enjoyable it's hard to knock it for any faults it may have. The costumes, practical effects, the sets, the music (both the score and the soundtrack are brilliant) the characters, the choreography, the comedic scenes, the attention to detail for the many smaller moments etc. I could go on and on about how great Hellboy 2 is haha

My one big complaint is the very end (spoilers I guess, in case someone hasn't seen it yet and plans too).

Spoiler

I didn't like how they finished off the main villain in the final fight. I always felt that, being the better warrior, Prince Nuada should have beaten Hellboy in the final duel but then before he can claim totally victory his sister would inflict a mortal wound on herself, thereby killing him as well. That's kinda what happens except they couldn't bare to have the hero Hellboy lose the fight . So instead we have Hellboy win the fight in a very anticlimatic way and then refuses to kill the Prince, who then sneaks up behind Hellboy to stab him in the back after being defeated, which seemed out of character and really weakened his character right at the end. Oh well. That would have made the move perfect in my eyes but it's still great.

 

[Skeleton]

I'm not being a pedant about the giant robot genre here, my beef with it is rather everything other than the giant robots. I thought the plot and dialogue was really pathetically lame at times, and a lot of the actors/characters were outright terrible. I was expecting to love this as mindless entertainment, but its flaws were annoying enough that I just disliked it. Speaking of Del Toro himself, I personally had no beef with his tale on Hellboy; I thought it was pretty decent given how difficult that world is to adapt. But here he just showered the viewer with wacky-weirdo guys (like the two scientists) for no reason whatsoever and it brought nothing to the table. I would have preferred more robot fight scenes and a rivalry between pilots that wasn't on the kindergarten level. Same with the female pilot who's being unfairly kept off duty... I mean come on how hamfisted can you get?

I apologize if it sounded like I was calling you pedantic. That wasn't my intent. I just meant that the genre is still shiny and new for me so my "holy shit! Robots versus monsters!" mentality covered up a lot of the flaws.

With that said I completely agree with you, my friend. A lot of the time I found myself wishing the movie would hurry up and get back to the robots/monsters. Or wondering why people made the decisions they made. (A monster goes through Trump's border wall like it's not even there and the politicians decide to stick with the project? What the fuck? Even the dumbest, most prideful person on earth would be overcome by his survival instinct and look for other options, especially if there's no room to interpret any aspect of the wall as a success such as in that case.)

I think most of Del Toro's movies are overrated. I really didn't care for Pacific Rim at all either. But I will say, the Hellboy movies are pretty great, especially the second one. I could watch Hellboy 2 The Golden Army any day. That movie is so damn enjoyable it's hard to knock it for any faults it may have. The costumes, practical effects, the sets, the music (both the score and the soundtrack are brilliant) the characters, the choreography, the comedic scenes, the attention to detail for the many smaller moments etc. I could go on and on about how great Hellboy 2 is haha

My one big complaint is the very end (spoilers I guess, in case someone hasn't seen it yet and plans too).

Spoiler

I didn't like how they finished off the main villain in the final fight. I always felt that, being the better warrior, Prince Nuada should have beaten Hellboy in the final duel but then before he can claim totally victory his sister would inflict a mortal wound on herself, thereby killing him as well. That's kinda what happens except they couldn't bare to have the hero Hellboy lose the fight . So instead we have Hellboy win the fight in a very anticlimatic way and then refuses to kill the Prince, who then sneaks up behind Hellboy to stab him in the back after being defeated, which seemed out of character and really weakened his character right at the end. Oh well. That would have made the move perfect in my eyes but it's still great.

I actually really liked Hellboy 2. I thought it was far better than the first.

You guys have convinced me to give the first Hellboy another shot, considering I haven't watched it in years. Luckily it's on Netflix.

 

[Aazealh]

I apologize if it sounded like I was calling you pedantic. That wasn't my intent. I just meant that the genre is still shiny and new for me so my "holy shit! Robots versus monsters!" mentality covered up a lot of the flaws.

I didn't take it like that, don't worry. I just meant that I was also ready myself to be wowed by big ass robots rocket-punching giant monsters.

With that said I completely agree with you, my friend. A lot of the time I found myself wishing the movie would hurry up and get back to the robots/monsters. Or wondering why people made the decisions they made. (A monster goes through Trump's border wall like it's not even there and the politicians decide to stick with the project? What the fuck? Even the dumbest, most prideful person on earth would be overcome by his survival instinct and look for other options, especially if there's no room to interpret any aspect of the wall as a success such as in that case.)

Yeah there's really a lot of stupid shit in there. It's all the more unfortunate because it's not a genre we'll see a lot of in films.

 

[IncantatioN]

Justice League ... so DC thought they should goa full 180 on the humorless BvS and make ... this? Their answer to Deadpool - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIHH5-HVS9o

xXx 2 ... looks just as bad as The Last Witch Hunter ...Deepika's cute but I can't waste money on this just for her - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaOE9emaz-8

Vin Diesel's best movie - Iron Giant.

 

[Aazealh]

Justice League ... so DC thought they should goa full 180 on the humorless BvS and make ... this? Their answer to Deadpool - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIHH5-HVS9o

I must be the only one who actually liked Martian Manhunter. Or Green Lantern (though I didn't see the movie).

xXx 2 ... looks just as bad as The Last Witch Hunter ...Deepika's cute but I can't waste money on this just for her - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaOE9emaz-8

Vin Diesel looks like getting out of bed must hurt his back, and it's been like that for years now. Why is he still starring in action movies? Even fossils like Stallone and Schwarzenegger look more springy.

 

[Johnstantine]

I must be the only one who actually liked Martian Manhunter. Or Green Lantern (though I didn't see the movie).

Nope. those two are actually pretty popular for people who like DC.

*raises hand*

 

[Aazealh]

Nope. those two are actually pretty popular for people who like DC.

*raises hand*

Yeah I just meant that I'm disappointed they chose to do away with them. Who cares about Cyborg?

 

[Johnstantine]

Yeah I just meant that I'm disappointed they chose to do away with them. Who cares about Cyborg?

*raises hand*

Vic Stone is like another Wally West. He worked his way up from the Teen Titans and basically gained the respect of all the heavy hitters.

But, as said before...it makes more sense if you follow DC.

 

[underpileofdeadbodies]

If anyone cares Suicide Squad is getting the reviews we all saw coming.

 

[Johnstantine]

If anyone cares Suicide Squad is getting the reviews we all saw coming.

It's pretty even right now. 9 positive, 8 mixed, 7 negative.

I haven't been super looking forward to it, but I'll still see it. Maybe.

 

[Griffith]

It's pretty even right now. 9 positive, 8 mixed, 7 negative.

That's a generous reading: 9 positive out of 24 reviews isn't "even," even sucks anyway, and currently it's sitting at 35% on RT (45 on metacritic though).

I haven't been super looking forward to it, but I'll still see it. Maybe.

That's the only review I need to read; if you can't muster up optimism or enthusiasm for it, they're doomed. Though with the staggering number of theaters they're opening (4,000+!) the box office should still be huge. Getting closer DC (pop music, jokes, fun), but no cigar. They've tried to jumpstart their shared universe so many times now they would have just been better off taking the time to slowly build off decent individual efforts and tying them together ala the Avengers, the old fashioned way. Trying to rush into it hasn't helped and they've already produced like 5 of these flicks anyway and it still doesn't feel cohesive. I'm reiterating my stance that they should have just bought off Bale with a dumptruck of cash and essentially made him their RDJ, revived the Superman Returns property by buying Brandon Routh off with free pizza and wine, held on to Reynolds as Green Lantern and try putting him into better movies (how'd that work out for Fox, DC/WB?), and gone from there. That's already better than what they're doing, just look:

Superman Returns 76%
Batman Begins 84%
The Dark Knight 94%
Green Lantern 26%
The Dark Knight Rises 87%

Bonus: Superman The Movie 93%, to which Returns is a direct continuation. That's right, in this scenario DC could have connected their shared universe to the 1978 Richard Donner classic and retroactively made it the beginning. Not bad, and it was all already done anyway! Plus, it's worth mentioning that they also had a Justice League movie in the works with Fury Road director George Miller, which, again, they probably would have been better off reviving with this cast. Instead we have:

Man of Steel 55%
Batman V Superman 27%
Suicide Squad 34%
Wonder Woman
Zack Snyder's Injustice League

Yikes! I know which foundation I'd rather build from, and they could have already had 2 Justice League movies out by now.


Update: Nevermind:

A key concern for Warners executives was that Suicide Squad didn't deliver on the fun, edgy tone promised in the strong teaser trailer for the film. So while Ayer pursued his original vision, Warners set about working on a different cut, with an assist from Trailer Park, the company that had made the teaser.

These guys are never going to produce a good movie again, let alone a successful multilayered franchise. That's truly mindblowing to me, like a perfect textbook example of the tail wagging the dog and movie executive creative malfeasance.

 

[Johnstantine]

That's a generous reading: 9 positive out of 24 reviews isn't "even," even sucks anyway, and currently it's sitting at 35% on RT (45 on metacritic though).

I said even because the mixed ones could go either way, but I was being too optimistic in thinking they would actually be positive;)

These guys are never going to produce a good movie again, let alone a successful multilayered franchise. That's truly mindblowing to me, like a perfect textbook example of the tail wagging the dog and movie executive creative malfeasance.

Holy fuck, I can't even describe the level of shittiness that entails. I feel like the same thing happened with Josh Stank of Shitastic 4, but less public. I believe WB even said that each individual film would be left solely up to the director, but god damn are they ever going back on it.

That's the only review I need to read.

I usually try to be pretty optimistic about things, and I absolutely love DC, but I have never been excited for this. At all. I hate the characters for the most part unless they're teamed up against their respective hero (Captain Boomerang without Flash is just awful), so I (along with apparently everyone else) are not their target market.

Sad, but I'll still see it. For reasons.

 

[Oburi]

Quote from: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/suicide-squads-secret-drama-rushed-916693

Update: Nevermind:



These guys are never going to produce a good movie again, let alone a successful multilayered franchise. That's truly mindblowing to me, like a perfect textbook example of the tail wagging the dog and movie executive creative malfeasance.

Makes sense, from what I've seen and understand basically all the movies listed above play like one giant movie long trailer anyway.

 

[residentgrigo]

I saw the RT page for Suicide Squad and had a good laugh. I then saw the 5,9 from IGN and had an even bigger laugh. Thank you for proving to me that Zack Snyder was never the problem dear critics. See you for the next blood bath with Wonder Woman. All of these will print money anyway. I will be there on opening week!
I am now even more excited for Suicide Squad (Ayer is a mixed bad), it´s my favorite American team up book, and the comic was re-booted today. A 10/10 start. As good as the 80s original.
About Kim Masters from THR, here is actual movie math: WB´s Mad Max 4 was a crazy mess of a production, cost 150 mil. and made 378 mil. in cinemas. The movie was considered a hit. SS only cost 25 mil. more. Did they spend half a bil. on marketing, is that what Kim Masters is saying? How long is the nose on her right now? And about the "humor" re-shoots, well 2015 says hello: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/suicide-squad-batman-v-superman-808446
2017 will be a fun ride, especially for Wonder Woman:

 

[Eluvei]

Man these DC movies must really suck if the critics that eat that Marvel mediocrity up give them negative reviews like that.