BiffMan

Been trying to catch this thread up all morning at work after being out all weekend. I'm still back on Saturday evening, but you guys are slowing down, I'm finally catching up at a rate of about 4:1 pages. Should only take till Wednesday at this pace...

Overall story = meh. Lyrics to "Colors of the Wind" = completely awesome. "You think you own whatever land you land on The Earth is just a dead thing you can claim But I know every rock and tree and creature Has a life, has a spirit, has a name" or "You think the only people who are people Are the people who look and think like you" or "How high will the sycamore grow If you cut it down, then you'll never know" So overall movie - C Music & Lyrics - A+

I'm always happy for anyone who enjoys themselves at any movie and I agree it works best on its own merits. I would have enjoyed splitting it into 2 or 3 movies (or just a miniseries on HBO or such) but I think they could have satisfied me fine in one movie if they just focused a little more on Ender's growth as a commander.

Favorite Hitchcock movie as well as my favorite Cary Grant one. Not as tension-filled as several of Hitchcock's other films, but I think this is far and above his best pure storytelling.

Doesn't seem to get the attention it deserves, but right up there in my top 5 Disney favorites. The voice acting by Ming-Na and BD Wong (he's always awesome) is fantastic with great nuance that really sells their characters. "Reflection" and "I'll Make a Man Out of You" are great additions to the Disney song library. Great animation with CGI-assist that's no overbearing. Quite a risk to try to bring this story to Western audiences and glad it paid off at the box office. A+

Disclaimer - Having been a big fan of the book/series and re-reading them every time a new one came out, it's pretty much impossible for me to watch the movie without comparing. That said, I did try to take it on its merits and let it do what it will, but I think I have to break this into two reviews: The Movie Itself: Quite a lot to like here and great performances from the core cast. I expected excellence from Ben and wasn't disappointed (loved the accent), but I was pleasantly surprised by Harrison and Asa. Asa turned in some excellent emoting work and gave a good fearful undercurrent to many of Ender's actions. Harrison I am a huge fan of, but the trailers had me worried that he had phoned in another performance. Thankfully, he was actively engaged here and the final shouting match with Asa was excellent by both of them. Probably one of Harrison's better performances of late and nice to see that him looking considerably younger than he has recently. Perhaps we'll still get a few good movies out of him. As an action piece, the movie works well enough. As a character study, not so much. Granted, that's quite a lot to get through in a very short time, but you don't have to look further than Gravity to see that you don't have to sacrifice character development along the way. That exact material might have worked considerably better in more capable directing hands. The constant people looking straight into the camera was off-putting (especially Dap at the beginning... ugh) and he didn't bother getting consistently good performances out of the supporting cast. Each had a decent moment or two, but there were some really wooden moments, particularly the girl playing Val. So overall, I'd say it's worth a watch if you're not familiar with the book and on it's own I'd give it a solid B. The Book Adaptation: Hard to not rant on this, but it was severly disappointing as a fan of the book. Primarily that's because it didn't focus on the themes that resonated with me in the book. Here they put the focus squarely on the human/formic saga and were really building to the epilogue and that worked fine. That unfortunately was at the expense of the themes that matter to me in the book: Ender's constant struggle against fear, expectations, the overall unfairness of his life, and his development as a person and a leader. When they jumped straight from Ender's first battle room battle to his last as a commander, I knew we were in trouble. We skipped over everything that makes the book matter. Ender's methodical figuring out the battle room, followed by thrusting him into command way too early and his subsequent figuring out leadership, all with the constant undercurrent of how unfairly life and the teachers are treating him... none of that. Similarly at Command School, we don't get to see Ender start out with one ship, move to a squadron of 4, start doing harder battles, and all the while being pushed to the limit by Mazer and the final battle being Ender's equivalent of giving up. No, instead we get 2 battles and a triumphant "yeah!" with fists raised and everything. Pretty much the exact opposite of what Ender is actually feeling in the book. I also really wished they hadn't gone the "photo realistic simulation" angle with command school. The one shot where he asks for the enhanced view and you see wireframe graphics, that's what it should have been like until the final reveal. That would have been much more powerful and would have hidden the twist far, far better than having it look real all along. When we're then told that it was real, it's hardly surprising. Needed more Ender vs Razer and much more character development. Ultimately, this adaptation is very much like Hunger Games: It's a pale echo of the book. The sacrifices that have to be made in the interests of time and format are all well and fine, but it should never be at the expense of the core motivations of the characters. Hunger Games didn't give us enough character motivation and that was unfortunate, but Ender's Game ignores and even misinterprets the main character's motivations. Like I said, it's near-impossible for me to separate the movie from the book, and I do think the director brought his vision of the book to the screen. It just wasn't mine and it blew an opportunity to realize a complex and interesting character on the screen. D-

Speaking of Arnold & Cavielzel, +10pts for the lengthy, crazed rant in German. We rarely get to hear Arnold speak German on film and made that scene pretty fun.

Enjoyed it quite a bit. Like Baumer said, it's what you'd expect, but that's not a bad thing. Very good performances and was particularly glad to see Arnold back on form. Promising that he and Stalone still have it in them. Now if we can get a movie with an interesting script as well... B+

I remember my eyes bugging out a bit at that line. Was looking around wondering if everyone else just caught what he said.

This. STiD is my most anticipated movie of the year, I'm old enough to have seen Wrath of Khan when it was released, and am a pretty huge Trek fan. So a big group of us are going to see it Saturday because that's the only day we could manage it and we bought tickets before the release date changed. I'm the target demographic and didn't see it yesterday. Big deal. I'll probably still see it twice this weekend.

Could just be a simple matter of scheduling. My friends and I bought our STiD tickets before the date change happened. Too much hassle to try to reschedule to Thurs whereas we might have been there if that had been the date all along.

I'm happy 42 might finish ahead of it.

So 42 beats Obilivion for the second week in a row and has a decent chance of finishing ahead of it domestically??

Yawn. C+

Oh, damn this movie. Damn it all to hell! Seriously though, it's a well-done movie, but this was quite the mindfuck for my parents to inflict on my 9 year old self. I think I was less bothered by Alien the next year. Damn creepy visuals and to this day, I can't really get past that and just enjoy the movie.

Saw this a second time over the weekend. Still can't decide how much I like it or not, but goddamn is that flying chase sequence with the 3 drones fantastic. Strapping the actors in and actually rotating them around did so much to add to the impact of that scene. I need to see that in every movie from now on.

Perhaps being a better film still matters to people? I know it's a far second to good marketing, but it's a comforting thought.

Finally got to see it yesterday. Considerably darker than I was expecting, particularly when things go off the rails after the failed attempt to con the phone sex dude. I would have liked that to be a little less drawn out, but I did enjoy the surrounding investigation by Ed Harris (need moar Ed!) and The Rock's implosion. The armored car robbery scene was inspired and really well executed. One of the best sequences in the movie for me. Marky Mark really fit the role well and there were times were I actually stopped noticing it was him, which is pretty unusual for his films. Hats off to The Rock. If there were an award for Best Supporting Actor in a Complete Goofball role, he earned it. I was completely surprised by how much range that role had to it (much more than I anticipated from the trailer) and he really sold it. Completely believable as a ex-con, born-again Christian, compassionate addict. He's reason enough to go see the film if you're on the fence. B+

Watched this a few years ago on a plane back from China in a desperate bid to stay alert. It didn't work. Nor did it put me to sleep, so fail on both sides of that equation. C-

Glad to hear it! I almost went out this morning to go see it, but will hopefully still catch it this weekend. Loved the trailers. Is there more humor than just the bits that made the trailers? And does Ed Harris have a decent sized role?

That would be cool, but it's already pretty wide. Nice PTA though. Will be interesting to see how the hold is today.

29x multiplier!!! ZOMG!!!

Ford's probably not quite working for scale just yet and the production values are awfully nice. I've been anxiously waiting for 3 weeks since I saw an advance screening to see how it would be received and couldn't be happier. Great to see a labor of love movie connect at the box office.

Oh.... HELL YEAH!

Anyone heard a Cinemascore on 42 yet? I should think this is going to have great WOM, but ya never know.