December 14th. "I am Legend." Fucking be there.

[Cim]

I am Legend makes me want to cry.

[KallDrexx]

Just saw it.  I liked most of it (sure not the best but it was entertaining). 

Question: How close is it to the book (besides the ending)?  It's perked my interest in reading the book.

[Teleku]

Otherwise, yet another great Tim Burton movie.

"Great" and "Tim Burton movie". Does not compute.

We'll, in this case, it was a Broadway musical already, so all he was really doing was porting it over to the big screen.  So that means he's pretty limited on what he can do to it.

[stray]

I really don't see why people around here have their hate on for the guy that much. What is it for specifically? Planet of Apes raped your childhood or what? I think that's Haemish's excuse at least. And he really needs to get the fuck over his childhood in general.

Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands, Big Fish, Beetlejuice, and even Sleepy Hollow more than make up for whatever failures he's had. Ed Wood alone does.

[Cheddar]

I really don't see why people around here have their hate on for the guy that much. What is it for specifically? Planet of Apes raped your childhood or what? I think that's Haemish's excuse at least. And he really needs to get the fuck over his childhood in general.

Was the "Planet of the Apes" remake any good?  I actually have it (unwrapped) from like a year ago and keep meaning to watch it... I just fear it will be a poor farce of the original.

[stray]

Poor farce of the original, yes. It's not completely horrible though. Just a watchable, yet forgettable action flick. Unless you have adolescent geek rage.

[Cheddar]

Poor farce of the original, yes. It's not completely horrible though. Just a watchable, yet forgettable action flick. Unless you have adolescent geek rage.

Eh, doesn't matter.  Wife out voted me.  I will check it out in a month or two, if I remember.   Once she goes back to work.

[stray]

Wives should never out vote you on this kind of thing.

[Samwise]

It's barely even a watchable action flick.  It's just bad, bad, bad, bad, bad.

I'm not a huge fan of the original either, but that was at least good for the time it was made.  The new one has no excuse for sucking so hard.

[IainC]

The book is amazing and well written and has a really nice twist at the end that makes you rethink social standards and the way society itself operates. The movie has Will Smith quoting Shrek. Obviously, there was SOMETHING lost in translation.

From his review of I am Legend.

[HaemishM]

I really don't see why people around here have their hate on for the guy that much. What is it for specifically? Planet of Apes raped your childhood or what? I think that's Haemish's excuse at least. And he really needs to get the fuck over his childhood in general.

Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands, Big Fish, Beetlejuice, and even Sleepy Hollow more than make up for whatever failures he's had. Ed Wood alone does.

Uh yeah, you can fuck right off about my childhood then. Hollywood's got dibs on it already.

Tim Burton is an overrated assclown. Actually, he isn't overrated. He's a fantastic filmmaker. He just cannot get over his own fucking ego to make good films on a regular basis. He's entirely too obsessed with making everything dark and weird and sinister, and less concerned with actually making a story that makes sense. It wasn't just Planet of the Apes. Sleepy Hollow was a story that didn't need to be told. He tried to add new and weird to the story and it just ended up being more stupid Burton nonesense. Most of the main characters in his movies are Edward Scissorhands with something different. Sleepy Hollow was Eddie Scissors as a forensice scientist in colonial America. Ed Wood was the same, except with cross dressing (though I will say it was a fantastic movie). And Planet of the Apes was just fucked from word go. You want to see an example of why he's such a cunt? Watch the Evening with Kevin Smith disc when he talks about his experiences with the Superman script. Tim Burton would have fucked up Superman (not that Singer did much better but at least it wouldn't have been Burton's deal).

I mean, Burton's had some absolutely perfect cinematic moments. There's a scene in Batman Returns (an otherwise forgettable flick where Burton fucked up the Penguin) with Keaton and Pfeiffer dancing at a ball. The moment when they both realize who the other one is, that scene, that moment is the closest I've ever seen to a perfect cinematic moment. Perfect acted, perfectly shot, everything LETTER PERFECT. It is a moment of such cinematic and narrative beauty, it makes me cry.

Then the Penguin enters with his flipper hands and fucks the whole thing in the ass. I've seen Burton's genius. He just doesn't know how to show it on a regular basis because he's too focused on being the weird guy.

[shiznitz]

Wives should never out vote you on this kind of thing.

Wives should get an extra vote per BJ/week, reset weekly.

[Nebu]

I've seen Burton's genius. He just doesn't know how to show it on a regular basis because he's too focused on being the weird guy.

Well said.  I agree completely.  On some levels the guy is overrated, but there's no doubt that he has some incredible talent.  I think he's just too self-indulgent and self-important to know when to put his ego aside and let his work do the talking.  I liked him better when he was an obscure nobody. 

Someone bottom line this move for me (I am Legend).  Give me a move that you'd consider it closest to in both quality and impact.  Is it pure entertainment (explosions and crap) or does it have enough depth to last time?

[Morfiend]

or does it have enough depth to last time?

No.

The closest thing I can think of that it reminded me of was Children of Man, but not as good. And I didnt think Children of Man was a great movie. Just slightly above average.

[Moaner]

Sweeney Todd was superb.  If you don't like it your tastes suck.   

I have nothing to say about I am Legend other than, "meh".

[Samwise]

Sweeney Todd was pretty good, but it had too much of the cliche Burton stuff for my taste.  Like casting Johnny Depp as an emotionally crippled man-child for the umpteenth time.  And the seaside montage, which was nice enough but was so obviously an excuse for Burton to drag out the Edward Scissorhands decor that it was distracting.

I agree that he needs to get out of his own weird ass more often.

[stray]

Ed Wood is Edward Scissorhands in cross-dressing? Wtf? I see absolutely no resemblance between the two.

For one, Ed Wood was completely sure of himself and his place in the world. And completely oblivious to how derided he was. He thought he was the next Orson Welles -- except he could only make Plan 9 From Outer Space.

On the flipside, Edward Scissorhands believed himself to be inadequate and a total piece of shit.

[edit] Not sure where you're getting at with Sleepy Hollow either. Ichabod Crane is a strange misfit of a character in the original story. And about the only thing Depp and Burton added to the screen character was some hint that Crane was a fag. Which doesn't have anything to do with Edward Scissorhands.

[Samwise]

The common thread of all the characters played by Johnny Depp in Burton films is that they're emotionally crippled and/or disconnected, and generally sort of childlike.  I haven't seen Ed Wood, so maybe that's the exception.

Depp's Todd reminded me of a sullen teenager with poor impulse control.  Much like his Wonka was a man-child with severe daddy issues.  I don't remember Sleep Hollow that well but I remember his Crane coming off as a geeky kid who lives in his mom's basement.  Not that these are necessarily BAD interpretations of those characters, but I get the feeling they were done that way because it puts them solidly in Burton's comfort zone.

[stray]

You really have to check out Ed Wood. Definitely his best movie, and even one of the best movies around period. He's comes off very childlike in that film though too -- although Depp said he was just trying to base his characterization on a combination of Ronald Reagan and Casey Kasum.

[HaemishM]

Depp's character in Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow and Wonka all have one thing in common. They are Tim Burton, or at least Tim Burton's warped view of himself as the misfit genius no one understands. Scissorhands and Ed Wood were good movies because that character fit that story. Hollow and Wonka sucked ass because that character did not fit that role, but Burton shoehorned the whole movie's concept around that character fitting into the world.

Burton could have made a great Sleepy Hollow. Instead, he made the Nightmare Before Christmas with the Headless Horseman and gooey bits.

[Paelos]

I liked Sleepy Hollow and his version of creepy in that movie. The story is supposed to be creepy. I like creepy.

[Riggswolfe]

I liked Sleepy Hollow and his version of creepy in that movie. The story is supposed to be creepy. I like creepy.

I agree and I enjoyed Ichabod as a police forensics guy instead of a gangly teacher/victim.

[Ironwood]

Depp's character in Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow and Wonka all have one thing in common. They are Tim Burton, or at least Tim Burton's warped view of himself as the misfit genius no one understands. Scissorhands and Ed Wood were good movies because that character fit that story. Hollow and Wonka sucked ass because that character did not fit that role, but Burton shoehorned the whole movie's concept around that character fitting into the world.

Burton could have made a great Sleepy Hollow. Instead, he made the Nightmare Before Christmas with the Headless Horseman and gooey bits.

I don't want to have this argument again but you're just NOT RIGHT about Wonka.

Dahl MEANT him to be the misfit Genius that no-one understood.  Christ, right there is a defining sentence that should be used if you're describing Wonka....

[HaemishM]

I read the original book. None of the things I saw in the Wonka movie made me think it was anything other than Burton enshrouding the story in his trademark "I'm such a weird goth nobody gets me" cloth.

[Samwise]

Dahl MEANT him to be the misfit Genius that no-one understood.  Christ, right there is a defining sentence that should be used if you're describing Wonka....

Misfit genius, yes.  But more in a Doc Brown vein and less in a Michael Jackson vein.   

[Sky]

Misfit genius, yes.  But more in a Gene Wilder vein and less in a Michael Jackson vein.   

FIFY 

[Abagadro]

Dahl actually hated the Wilder film version of the book.

[Ironwood]

He was right to.  It was total shit.

It was also on ITV today.  Which reminded me how shit it was.  Even for 1971.  Shit shit shis shithsithstihsithsithsit

Shit.

[stray]

I don't mind it, for a musical.

[Teleku]

He was right to.  It was total shit.

It was also on ITV today.  Which reminded me how shit it was.  Even for 1971.  Shit shit shis shithsithstihsithsithsit

Shit.

You suck. 


The end.

[schild]

Vin Diesel needs to stop fucking around and do another Riddick.

[Murgos]

I don't mind it, for a musical.

Why do you have an anus embedded in your fist?

[Moaner]

Vin Diesel needs to stop fucking around and do another Riddick.

Hell yea.  I can't say I think the first Riddick was a good movie, but I did enjoy it quite a lot.  The ending though, that's a great set up for what could be a very fun movie.

Vin Diesel is the only movie star I've ever met and he was super friendly.  I hear he's actually quite the gamer too.

[stray]

I don't mind it, for a musical.

Why do you have an anus embedded in your fist?

Hey, I'm giving it a compliment! I tend random singing in movies.

Though to be fair, there isn't an extreme amount of it in that movie.

[Murgos]

I was referring to your avatard.

Though you may have been known that and I am just too out of it to notice.  I'm zonked out on over the counter cold relief medicine atm.  Apparently, skiing all day and then rushing home to club until 7 am and then catching a 10 hour plane flight full of who knows what germs is not a good idea if you aren't interested in enjoying a full compliment of flu-like symptoms.