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Here comed another SF with Tom Cruise. SF "Groundhog Day"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLe_qO4AE-M

Source Code at wartime.
Based on a japanese sci-fi novel called "All You Need is Kill."  The book won the japanese "nebula" and was adapted to Manga at one point.  Apparently there's been a LOT of action around it, trying to adapt it to screen; finally happened in 2011.

It shows promise, though a mistake choosing Cruise as I still believe these type of "thought experiment" sci-fi films need no-name actors, as going into the story unbiased is paramount.  Anyways, it's a japanese techno-military manga story told through a British lens, so that alone means it's a must-see as far as I'm concerned.  No one does sci-fi of that ilk better.

I liked this better when it was Shadow 19.

If they could refilm this movie with someone not named Tom Cruise, I might be able to give a shit.

That looks good. Never heard of the source material, and it seems obscure enough the average viewer wouldn't either.

Battleship taught Hollywood you need big names for a big budget.

But it had Eric the Vampire and Rihanna!

This actually looks like it's going to be decent. I'm cautiously optimistic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlEx9WKHE5s

I enjoy Tom Cruise in these types of roles. Oblivion was great if a bit sentimental. He has charisma like no other.

This detailed article the LA Weekly (http://www.laweekly.com/2014-05-22/news/the-last-movie-star/) published recently on his background indicates that these type of action roles aren't what he wants, but what the audience wants of him.

Emily Blunt with a bigass sword?  I'm in.

They shoulda stuck with with bigass axe from the book for awesomeness :awesome_for_real:

Saw this tonight at an early screening.  Skip the 3D - it's distracting and obnoxious.  Otherwise, for a big special effects summer movie - it's definitely fun.

Hearing good things about this movie from usually tough reviewers, and also that it's going to flop. Anyone else seen?

I'd like to hear more 3d vs no 3d recommendations I'll probably see this next week(end).

Went and saw last night. Enjoyable and rather humorous in parts. 8/10 .  Personally I never bother with 3D so couldn't tell you yay or nay on that. ( though overall I never notice the 3D in a film after 15 minutes so why bother paying extra)

Saw it. Liked it.  2D was fine.

There's something about Tom Cruise, I can't stand his public persona and his movies are usually Tom Cruise playing Tom Cruise. Having said that, I enjoyed the part he played in the Last Samurai and I'm prepared to give it a look-see.

Ya, I don't like him either. He is basically a simulacrum of a human being at this point, but I like original sci-fi which is becoming rarer at the movies these days.  He actually has a bit of character arc in this unlike many of his other roles of him just playing Tom Cruise.

I really, really liked this up until the last 30 minutes or so when it just went a bit  :uhrr:

Not a movie you need to see in 3D, but it is worth seeing.

Enjoyed it. I especially liked the different choices Cage felt he had to make under different circumstances -- different dead ends that resulted in a character change and a new path.

If it were anyone other than Tom Cruise, I'd go see it.  Did I already say that?

Worth saying again even if I have.

In that case, just go so you can watch Tom Cruise get killed over and over again for the first half of the movie  :grin:

Plus side if you don't like tom cruise this movie features him getting squashed in many many humerous ways so it is a bit cathartic even for people who hate him.

It did terrible at the box office for an opening weekend.  Seems people are tired of Tom Cruise mugging it up in yet another action movie.  Only 29 mil opening, finishing behind a Rom-Com and Maleficent's 2nd week. Though it did do 111 mil overseas, so it'll be a success financially.

Na, its the sci-fi causing the problem.  Audiences has trouble grokking any sci-fi concept more complex than evil alien invaders.

Good movie.  Go see it.

 :heart: Emily Blunt

The only matinee showing at the time I could go was 3D, and I agree it adds nothing meaningful.  Don't spend the extra.

I was hoping for something closer to the novel, but I'm not surprised at the changes; the last portion of the book as written wouldn't play well with a typical American audience.  Not all changes are bad; it allows for a much easier-to-follow explanation of how to break the time loop.

My biggest gripe?  I don't think the movie succeeded at cranking Rita's badassery all the way to 11.  More wholesale alien melee-smashery, plz.

Is the book worth reading?

I enjoyed it, although it is fairly short for the cost ($7 or $8 on Kindle?)  As is typical for a lot of Asian literature & film, the ending is more tragic than the Hollywood version.  And the author seems to have a breast fetish, but I didn't find that bothersome  :grin:

I liked the book as well.

No, it's Tom Cruise. This was literally no more complicated than Groundhog Day. The original scripts ending that has Cruise trapped literally for eternity looping to fight over and over again was scrapped. Then scenes that are rumored to have shown that Cruise was lying and could still loop allowing him to perfect the Paris assault were cut, leaving the fuckmess that's in the movie.

People hate Tom Cruise. Younger audiences only know him as an overpaid douchebag, and older audiences hate him more than the memories of when he was a decent actor. Plus, he's just too old to pull off action hero shit. Other peole could pull it off because they didn't rely on boyish good looks, but he does so he can't.

Oddly, the best performance he ever gave was in War of the Worlds. Probably because he was just doing his real personality.

Funny you should mention that.  It as on last night and I watched the first half (What we'll call 'The Good Half') and I was thinking that he wasn't asstastic in it.  Even the raging douchebag son wasn't so bad in the first half.

It wasn't acted badly, it just ended up being bad and I couldn't really tell you why....

So angry! I didn't think Tom was a detriment to the movie. If those were the original script endings, I'm glad they were revised, it wouldn't have made a lick of sense with the structure of the narrative I saw and call-backs to earlier information that was revealed (Rita states how she lost the power, Cage loses the power the same way, creating the illusion of third act tension and real stakes).

I think they could have pulled off a better ending than the Hollywood Happy we got, but there was a lot I liked about this film and thought Cruise was a good choice for the role given where the Cage character started and where he ended up.

Read this expose in the LA Weekly (http://www.laweekly.com/2014-05-22/news/the-last-movie-star/) on Tom Cruise. I think it provides a more fair perspective on the man and his career.

Does Tom Cruise ever die tragically in his movies?  Was anyone honestly expecting him to in this one?

Vanilla Sky.

--Dave

Can't WAIT to see this!

He didn't die. Cameron Crowe said there were multiple interpretations of the movie and it's ending but none of them involved the main character's actual death.

I certainly would watch this move if Tom Cruise wasn't in it. I don't know why they keep tainting Scifi-movies with his Scientologist douchebag presence. He is not good enough an actor to let me forget who he is when I try to watch his movies.

Except Tropic Thunder. Maybe because I didn't realize until afterwards that it even was him.

Everyone knows Tropic Thunder was his greatest acting performance!

I kind of enjoyed Cruise in this but I didn't really feel he added a huge amount to the movie, it was more the plot device and action that I really liked.

That said he does play a total douchebag well and he can do the love angle well enough to, which covers the main character arc. And we get to see him get fragged in a few dozen ways.

My vote is for The Outsiders.

Man, I forgot he was in that.  That movie had pretty much every major Tiger Beat heartthrob from the 80's in it.

Cruise was actually pretty good in this role, I thought.  Unlike Oblivion and his other recent non-Tropic Thunder roles where he was flat as cardboard, this character actually got some acting out of him.  It really seems like Cruise responds well to playful roles, because whenever he's serious grimdark action hero he pretty much sucks.

Just saw it. Was pretty good. Watchable.

It struck me that it might be the first good video game movie despite not actually being a video game movie. By that I mean it's the first film to have the narrative logic of a video game, more or less, and to have that logic supply a kind of fun in its own right. Cruise's character even ragequits the game at one point, more or less doing the equivalent of throwing his controller at the wall.

Finally had a chance to see this. I came away very impressed. It was one of the better sci-fi movies I've seen in recent years.

Waiting for this to be cheaper on Amazon.

Just watched it. I was pleasantly surprised. Cruise was good (WTF?) and the plot diverged from the book in a good way - enough elements to carry the story and enough innovation to make it far enough from the book to keep me interested.

Sci-fi groundhog day wins.

This was very good.

It is a good movie and it has something to offer people who both like and hate tom cruise. For those who like him its one of his better sci fi  movies and its a pretty fun amusing take on ground hog day type time loops.

For those who hate tom cruse its a ground hog day type time loop that involves tom cruise being killed/murdered constantly and in inventive and amusing ways.

I keep seeing this at Best Buy and forgot they rebranded it to something more straightforward.  I'm not paying $24 for a dvd, though, so maybe it'll be on Amazon or Netflix in the next 6 months.

I saw this on Netflix DVD (yes, I am still old school that way) over the weekend. Loved it. Skillful balance of re-living and new scenes.

This was spectacularly good for a Tom Cruise movie.

It was just spectacularly good.  I don't think it needs the qualifier.

I really was extremely satisfied watching

Good movie but the last 5 minutes left a really sour taste in my mouth. Without going into spoilers it felt un-earned, didn't make a lot of sense and had horrible music that almost seemed like parody. It definitely had a "test audiences didn't like the original ending" vibe.

I wouldn't got that far, but I agree I wish it had gone a different route at the very end (more similar to the ending of the book).  Still a great movie.

I thought the ending was better than I expected from a Hollywood big budget. A little ambiguity is fine.

I thought the ending was better than I expected from a Hollywood big budget. A little ambiguity is fine.

And boy does Emily Blunt look hot doing planks.

I would've loved to have seen the book's ending done in the movie just to hear the howls of moviegoers across the US as they all get trolled by a very Japanese "ha ha, fuck you protagonist" ending.

Movie was pretty great, but the ending could've done with some emotion.