tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post6591451611795508993..comments2023-09-15T04:27:57.129-04:00Comments on Commentarama: And They Were Bored. . . The end.AndrewPricehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-5764940126856630752010-10-16T12:22:09.245-04:002010-10-16T12:22:09.245-04:00Mike, LOL!!
Yeah, that really makes you think!
I...Mike, LOL!!<br /><br />Yeah, that really makes you think!<br /><br />I like when they get artsy too, like when you see the same explosion from five angles always in slow motion! That's like cool five times over. . . but six would be boring.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-87779256772794276352010-10-16T11:45:56.813-04:002010-10-16T11:45:56.813-04:00Of course I like a thinking man's ending too s...Of course I like a thinking man's ending too sometimes.<br /><br />Like when the good guys are about to win, but then one good guy is like, 'Not so fast, I'm a bad guy, really.' And then they have to fight him too. It really makes you think.Mike K.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17216987126441598720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-89876132405349284062010-10-16T11:41:18.884-04:002010-10-16T11:41:18.884-04:00The best ones are when you see an explosion and th...The best ones are when you see an explosion and think, 'that was good!' and then there's an even bigger one and I start yelling 'Did you see that! That was two explosions right there!'Mike K.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17216987126441598720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-78792996634411226192010-10-16T11:05:46.248-04:002010-10-16T11:05:46.248-04:00Mike, but they're purty... and cool. LOL!Mike, but they're purty... and cool. LOL!AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-59071392887866220292010-10-16T10:51:08.908-04:002010-10-16T10:51:08.908-04:00Explosions are loud!Explosions are loud!Mike K.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17216987126441598720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-65900289929648134372010-10-15T15:57:42.875-04:002010-10-15T15:57:42.875-04:00DUQ, I don't think it takes an old fuddy duddy...DUQ, I don't think it takes an old fuddy duddy to see that these pointless endings don't improve films, but instead hurt the whole film.<br /><br />Let's hope someone in Hollywood is listening.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-26320153750232955762010-10-15T15:56:17.359-04:002010-10-15T15:56:17.359-04:00T_Rav, LOL! Actually, I've seen a lot of Germ...T_Rav, LOL! Actually, I've seen a lot of German television (I have relatives there). It's pretty strange to see something like <i>The Simpsons</i> in German, with different voices and where the humor isn't translated correctly.<br /><br />Looney Toons too: I still recall Foghorn Leghorn having a high-pitched, fast speaking German voice. . . the horror. . . the horror!AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-9705084660538668412010-10-15T15:55:49.598-04:002010-10-15T15:55:49.598-04:00Thank you for this. I was beginning to feel like ...Thank you for this. I was beginning to feel like an old fuddy-duddy.DUQhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08746724287720239837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-49035630557629664462010-10-15T15:37:04.616-04:002010-10-15T15:37:04.616-04:00I hadn't noticed that before. You're proba...I hadn't noticed that before. You're probably right, but I'll have to check it out for myself the next time it's on TV.<br /><br />Although, I can tell you what is definitely worse than Armageddon--Armageddon dubbed in German. I found it on TV once when I was in Munich, and it was so incredibly badly done, you'd think it was a comedy.T_Ravnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-6296288726746952082010-10-15T14:21:20.041-04:002010-10-15T14:21:20.041-04:00T_Rav, What bothers me about Pirates is that there...T_Rav, What bothers me about <i>Pirates</i> is that there is a pretty good movie buried within a lot of garbage in the sequels. It's like they wasted an opportunity to create something truly interesting and lasting because they didn't trust the audience, so they tossed in all the stuff that's wrong with Hollywood. If you could strip that out, I think it would make a pretty good film.<br /><br />My problem with <i>Armageddon</i> is that, at the time, it was one of the first films to really go nuts with the quick cuts. I'm not kidding when I say there isn't a single shot that runs more than 8 seconds before they change camera angles. It was film making for the ADD set. Sadly (and predictably), these days it no longer stands out for that. In fact, it's tame by comparison to much of what's out there now.<br /><br />I do agree about the soundtrack though, very good!AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-60569344744632357622010-10-15T14:15:22.869-04:002010-10-15T14:15:22.869-04:00Jed, I fully understand your point about the movie...Jed, I fully understand your point about the movie and I agree. It was far too busy and it seemed like every couple of minutes they took a break from the plot to interject a fight scene. I was still pleasantly surprised as a blockbuster, but that's a pretty low threshold.<br /><br />I agree about the soundtrack too. Like I said, I have a very hard time understanding much of what was said and that was distracting.<br /><br />You raise an interesting point about modern acting. I agree that a lot of what I see these day in the way of acting feels "disconnected." I first noticed the beginnings of this years ago when I noticed that there is no timing anymore in Hollywood -- instead, it's all about editing now. So rather than have the really neat almost-overlapping dialog you would find in a Bogart film or in a Marx Brothers film, you got carefully edited lines running back to back. . . it wasn't the same.<br /><br />But in the past couple years, I've noticed what seems to be the next step -- that dialog increasingly feels like it's being delivered by the actor alone without regard to anyone else being in the scene with them. Thus, you seem to get dialog that is either very flat or overly dramatic, and the actors don't seem to be playing off of each other. You also get a lot of actors whispering their lines because it sounds "cool" even though it doesn't seem realistic -- try whispering to someone across a crowded room and see if that works in real life.<br /><br />I've put this down to a decrease in the quality of acting these days (all looks, no talent), and an over-reliance on editing which makes me suspect that scenes are being created almost one line of dialog at a time.<br /><br />I could be wrong, but that's my impression.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-29921909766022177752010-10-15T14:02:58.935-04:002010-10-15T14:02:58.935-04:00Joel, That's an interesting comparison. There...Joel, That's an interesting comparison. There seems to be a human tendency to think that if 10 is good, 20 would be better and 30 would be even better than that. And that seems to be how so many things spin out of control, not to mention that it's rarely true.<br /><br />I certainly think this has become a problem with film, that each film needs to be bigger than the last to make an impact. But I also think this shows a lack of creativity. If the plots were better then they wouldn't need to engage in the CGI arms race.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-50982742594218311622010-10-15T13:51:55.543-04:002010-10-15T13:51:55.543-04:00So wait, you're saying the Pirates of the Cari...So wait, you're saying the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels were bad? Come on! It's not like we couldn't tell what the motives of all the different characters were, or like the fight scenes were over the top, or...oh wait. <br /><br />Actually, more seriously, I never can figure out why people always rag on Armageddon. I mean, yeah, the dialogue was a little cheesy sometimes, and the Ben Affleck-Liv Tyler romance was little short of nauseous much of the time, but for the most part, I don't think it was that bad. Plus, it had a pretty good soundtrack.T_Ravnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-8581944941025823642010-10-15T13:50:02.485-04:002010-10-15T13:50:02.485-04:00Ed and Andrew - no real disagreement from me on ei...Ed and Andrew - no real disagreement from me on either of your points. I wasn't disappointed because it wasn't a "Sherlock" movie (neither were many of the Rathbone stories.) Rather, I was all primed up to see a nice Downey, Jr., modern technology, blockbuster based on that character and was disappointed because I couldn't (for a variety of reasons) follow the plot closely enough to maintain interest.<br /><br />Andrew, you and I have discussed commercial movie soundtracks, and I admit this may have had a big impact on my reaction. Still, I can't help but feel the movie mostly jumped from one big blockbuster special effects violent scene to the next causing me to not understand, and therefore not care about the ultimate storyline.<br /><br />Let me share one other potentially interesting reaction I have been having recently. Do you know how great and involved some music can sound when you are in a semi-conscious state (falling into or out of sleep?) Recently, I have found this happening in reverse with television and movies. What amazes me is how dialog from good actors in shows or movies I have liked come across as wooden and as acting (as opposed to realistic.) Don't know why, but it has been happening a lot lately.Tennessee Jedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10604275115906776992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-1792431978470727292010-10-15T13:47:12.447-04:002010-10-15T13:47:12.447-04:00Andrew,
I blame it on the bigger is better concep...Andrew,<br /><br />I blame it on the bigger is better concept that also destroyed the Mustang. The Mustang originally was a car that was written to specs provided by people who were interested in a second car. The subsequent models were increased in size and power to resemble a bloated box.Joel Farnhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15856960977033430002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-60189371516598888782010-10-15T13:43:04.291-04:002010-10-15T13:43:04.291-04:00Ed, I largely agree. So long as you don't try...Ed, I largely agree. So long as you don't try to see this film as competing with the classic (serious) version of Sherlock Holmes, then it was entertaining (excluding my complaints above). And in those terms, I enjoyed it. But it would have really turned me off if I associated it with "classic Holmes."AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-2567915958514467302010-10-15T13:32:47.789-04:002010-10-15T13:32:47.789-04:00Jed and Andrew, I thought Downey did a great job g...Jed and Andrew, I thought Downey did a great job giving a different kind of Holmes. He clearly wasn't playing a dramatic Holmes like in the television series, but I thought he did a good job. I agree the movie was too busy with too much stuff going on and I didn't like the video game ending, but overall I liked the film. I don't think I would want to see it again, but I don't regret seeing it.Ednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-68821894512891757552010-10-15T13:25:25.810-04:002010-10-15T13:25:25.810-04:00Jed, I was pleasantly surprised, but let me clarif...Jed, I was pleasantly surprised, but let me clarify.<br /><br />As far as summer blockbusters go, I thought the film was entertaining and it had it's clever moments, but it wasn't Sherlock Holmes. I had real problems understanding all the mumbling, I thought the "Watson is leaving" subplot was just too much to add to an already convoluted story, I thought they tried too hard to make references to Holmes' stories, and overall the film was overwhelmed by the effects and the constant need for frenetic action and special effects-laden fights and escapes.<br /><br />So while I enjoyed it as a blockbuster, I would rate it very poorly as a Sherlock Holmes film.<br /><br />And that said, it did have a good cast and they clearly could have done a great Holmes story, but they didn't -- they just used the "Sherlock Holmes" names.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-66123811195892657732010-10-15T13:08:38.362-04:002010-10-15T13:08:38.362-04:00Interesting comments about the Sherlock Holmes mov...Interesting comments about the Sherlock Holmes movie. Holmes, in my mind, is probably my favorite fictional character of all time. I am, a dedicated follower of the canon, so the Jeremy Brett Grenada t.v. series has always been the benchmark. And yet, having grown up with Sir Basil Rathbone (one of my top two or three actors all time) I could easily accept bastardized WWII propaganda stories.<br /><br />Now I also really enjoy Robert Downey, Jr., but was concerned since the director had a reputation none too favorable in my eyes. I actually saw that movie in a commercial theater. Soundtrack was loud, gobbled, and drowned out the dialogue (poison to good plot development.) And the story ???<br /><br />My point is that movie represents to me everything under discussion here. Good cast, big budget, special effects, great concept . . . within 30 minutes, I was so bored I wanted to walk out.Tennessee Jedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10604275115906776992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-25986348263001516292010-10-15T12:54:29.665-04:002010-10-15T12:54:29.665-04:00Lawhawk, I haven't seen that one because it re...Lawhawk, I haven't seen that one because it really had all of the elements that normally turn me off, so I'm not at all surprised that it turned out poorly. It just had "assault on the senses" written all over it.<br /><br />I don't mind action (in fact, I like it), but if all they're selling is 40 minutes of quick edits, explosions and action that you can't make sense of, then I lose interest pretty quickly. And these days, I honestly start turning movies like that off once they start heading into their endings.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-57191428353963467962010-10-15T12:50:44.949-04:002010-10-15T12:50:44.949-04:00Scott, LOL! That would be a problem. Of course, yo...Scott, LOL! That would be a problem. Of course, you could just move your ending closer to the beginning? ;-)<br /><br />I figured people in film school were probably less interested in the bombastic stuff, but you never know. I would have no interest in making those kinds of films personally.<br /><br />I've always found in writing that you get a sense of whether or not you're on the right track by how perfectly everything seems to fit together as you work your way along. When everything seems to fall into place and it "writes itself", then you're on track. If you're struggling, then you're on the wrong track.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-81006485786633252062010-10-15T12:41:49.889-04:002010-10-15T12:41:49.889-04:00Andrew: I sense a lot of patience among our reade...Andrew: I sense a lot of patience among our readers. I don't have that kind of patience, so I often don't make it to the end of many movies produced in the last ten years or so. <br /><br />Perfect example. When my son was little, he and I went to see <i>Clash of the Titans</i>. The whole family has watched it several times since on cable. Sure, its special affects are a little clunky by today's standards, but it's a very fun movie.<br /><br />Cut to the re-make, complete with CGI and 3-D. What CRAP. The CGI was muddy and the sepia coloration was depressing. The monsters and gods didn't look any better, and I ended up rooting for the kraken. Oh, and I didn't stick around for the end of the movie. The BBC took a poll, and about three-quarters of the respondents voted it the first sci-fi fantasy film which was made considerably worse by CGI and 3-D. I think they were generous.LawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-14702940594130267592010-10-15T12:35:14.944-04:002010-10-15T12:35:14.944-04:00I've only taken a few screenwriting classes bu...I've only taken a few screenwriting classes but we always touched on endings. Of course, most people who go to film school have no interest in making the kind of big, bombastic films we're talking about (it's a stereotype but there is some truth to it). :-)<br /><br />And in my own writing exercises, I never got to the ending because I usually ran out of material a quarter of the way through!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-77797020359017559332010-10-15T12:33:55.617-04:002010-10-15T12:33:55.617-04:00Scott, P.S. You're right about Raiders too. T...Scott, P.S. You're right about <i>Raiders</i> too. That ending was foreshadowed a dozen times, there were dozens of opportunities for the characters to avoid that fate, and when it happened, it was short and with a huge payoff -- but an appropriate payoff. If they made that film today, Jones would have had to free himself, fight off evil demons, find some strange solution (maybe involving a hidden power he never knew he had before), and then cause the Nazis to die by letting them trick themselves into being taken by the demons. . . and that would not have been a very satisfying ending.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-65515978223574591392010-10-15T12:30:57.985-04:002010-10-15T12:30:57.985-04:00Scott, I watched all of his criticism and I though...Scott, I watched all of his criticism and I thought he was spot on the whole time. He really took those movies apart to the point that almost every decision Lucas made seemed ridiculous. I was very impressed. . . though, yes, he could have used fewer dead hooker jokes.<br /><br />I think you're right about endings needing to feel organic to the story. The endings to the best movies always feel like a natural culmination of the story -- like you've been building toward it. Whereas so many endings today feel like "oh, we need something big and splashy" whether that fits the story or not.<br /><br />It's the same thing with twists, the good ones flow from the story and make sense within the story -- they seem like they were always there to be seen and like the story relies upon then... but most twists feel like "oh, we need something more to the story, let's do something surprising."<br /><br />Have you taken any script writing classes that have touched upon this?AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.com