The fact that this movie out-earned "Return of the King" on opening weekend just goes to show that it's hard to trust box office numbers that aren't adjusted for inflation + rising ticket prices.
Or maybe just a testament to the power of hype and marketing , and an indication of how many casual moviegoers (like myself) weren't as interested in the final chapter of LOTR as you may want to believe.
I don't buy that at all.
"Return of the King" set the all-time December record (of course, if you adjusted that for inflation + ticket costs, I wonder if it'd still come out on top). It hardly got slept-on by "casual moviegoers" who didn't care for the LOTR franchise.
I do accept that "I Am Legend" has had a rigorous marketing campaign, Will Smith fills seats and it was a slow week in terms of blockbuster competition BUT even with that, I'm still quite surprised.
Return of the King was on cable last night and I caught the last half hour. Honestly I started laughing. The whole thing was ridiculous; the last battle scene, the hobbit wrestling with the alien dude for the ring; the molten lava; when his hobbit friends come in and jump on the bed, etc. Honestly I can't see how that movie was ever taken seriously.
You are ignorant. Its a fantasy movie, not law and order. Im sorry you have no imagination.
IIIIMMMMMMAAAAGGGIIINNNNAAAAAATTTTIIIOONNN!!!!!
dude some of my favorite movies are fantasy. Blade Runner has the ability to make me ponder shit for hours and nearly moves me to tears. the first three Star Wars joints, etc. It's not about fantasy; I could write a list of dope fantasy movies.
My whole whole point was, upon revisitation after a couple years and after the inane Tolkien craze has died down, I realized that Return of the King was an extremely bad, extremely silly fantasy movie. Like it SUCKS. It was poorly acted, utilized (already) dated cornball effects and was based on a 3rd rate set of kids books masquerading as literature. Those movies will not stand the test of time; mark my words.
I hated each LOTR movie more than the last. Overwraught, laughable dialogue and heavy-handed Christian imagery turned me off. Both Tolkien and C.S. Lewis make my skin crawl with their didactic, Christian soldier bullshit. To say you need an imagination to watch those movies says that you're unable to piece together the very clear and cliched symbolism Tolkien was drudging up. Here are some hints: Frodo = Christ, Sauron = Satan, the fellowship = Christ's apostles right down to Judas -- the list goes on and on.
I wanted to walk out during the last LOTR, but my cousins and I were too busy rolling with laughter in our seats during the frolicking scenes.
last night, i watched a cam-recorded version of i am legend on stage6, and oof! this movie is terrible. i am copping the 25th anniversary blade runner set right now just to cleanse my palette. seriously... do not watch... though, admittedly, this is perhaps the perfect role for willy, who is able to flex his cheeseball punchlines directed-at-inanimate objects / animals / aliens to the fullest, given that there are no other actors in the picture. i'd rather watch hanks with a volleyball than smith with mannequins and a doggie.
I hated each LOTR movie more than the last. Overwraught, laughable dialogue and heavy-handed Christian imagery turned me off. Both Tolkien and C.S. Lewis make my skin crawl with their didactic, Christian soldier bullshit. To say you need an imagination to watch those movies says that you're unable to piece together the very clear and cliched symbolism Tolkien was drudging up. Here are some hints: Frodo = Christ, Sauron = Satan, the fellowship = Christ's apostles right down to Judas -- the list goes on and on.
I wanted to walk out during the last LOTR, but my cousins and I were too busy rolling with laughter in our seats during the frolicking scenes.
That movie is bad.
uhhh...you should really know what you're talking about before you go off like that. While Tolkien's stories can easily be interpreted as Christian, he vehemently denied any religious messages people may have seen in his work. It was cliched in that it was a reworking of the traditional 'good vs. evil' storyline, but he actually hated any kind of religious interpretations people saw his own writings. In fact, I believe he and CS Lewis constantly disagreed about this point in their writings as they were contemporaries and both belonged to the same writing club in college.
Lewis, on the other hand, was unabashedly Christian.
You can hate Christianity all you want, but that doesn't mean anything you don't enjoy is intentionally Christian.
It still never ceases to amaze me how people on this board will put in countless manhours researching run-off etchings and label variations, but can't put the same energy into researching other stuff.
dude some of my favorite movies are fantasy. Blade Runner has the ability to make me ponder shit for hours and nearly moves me to tears. the first three Star Wars joints, etc. It's not about fantasy; I could write a list of dope fantasy movies.
My whole whole point was, upon revisitation after a couple years and after the inane Tolkien craze has died down, I realized that Return of the King was an extremely bad, extremely silly fantasy movie. Like it SUCKS. It was poorly acted, utilized (already) dated cornball effects and was based on a 3rd rate set of kids books masquerading as literature. Those movies will not stand the test of time; mark my words.
First of all, if we're talking genre, as much as fantasy and sci-fi share things in common, citing "Blade Runner" as a fantasy film seems rather off-base. As is including "Star Wars" even though, sure, there's a lot of overlap. But most people wouldn't normally put Philip K. Dick and C.S. Lewis in the same breath.
As for the "inane Tolkien craze", and rest of that 'graph, you're just plain wrong on pretty much everything you stated there.
Back to "I Am Legend": does this new version end the same way the original film and book does?
Although I can understand the appeal of a visually stunning epic, I guess.
I wont even give those shit movies the credit of being visually stunning. computer generated "battles" that looked like a bunch of indechipherable arms flailing around and 6 hours the camera circling characters walking along a mountain top. FUCK LORD OF THE RINGS. Never have I seen movies of such incredibly low quality hailed by almost every fuckin person on the planet. awful awful awful awful. Worse than the new star wars awful.
As for the "inane Tolkien craze", and rest of that 'graph, you're just plain wrong on pretty much everything you stated there.
why, because you disagree with me?
I'll give you the special effects (if lava and dudes in hairy costumes are your thing, fine).
But you'd be hard-pressed to convince me (or anyone that knows shit about literature or cinema) that (a) Tolkien was ever a serious literary force or that his books were ever a serious anything, or (b) that Elijah Wood furrowing his brow and bugging his eyes out for six hours constitutes good acting. (Though the dude from Rudy played a pretty good chunky/loyal sidekick, as far as that archetype goes.)
and a cursory glance at book sales during the time these movies were released would more than vindicate me on the "Tolkien craze" point. His books saw a HUGE surge in popularity when these movies were out. But like I said that doesn't make his books any more serious or these movies any less silly.
of course this argument is futile if you happened simply to "like" the movie (crap that it was). there's no accounting for taste.
OK now back to Will Smith's movie: the concept is played out and dude is a cornball.
I don't have a problem with the idea that you found the films to be wack. But the idea that history will somehow look back on LOTR and decide, "you know what? Everyone - critics and fans alike - were acting stupid" doesn't wash. Tolkien has his loyalists but I don't think most people went to see the movies because they actually bothered to read the trilogy (let alone the rest of his books). It's not like Harry Potter and JK Rowlings' fanaticism.
LOTR raised the bar on epic films. Period. I disagree with the idea that the shit was terrible but I can respect that people found it overwrought. But it wasn't mass delusion that helped the series rack up $$$.
As for the "inane Tolkien craze", and rest of that 'graph, you're just plain wrong on pretty much everything you stated there.
why, because you disagree with me?
I'll give you the special effects (if lava and dudes in hairy costumes are your thing, fine).
But you'd be hard-pressed to convince me (or anyone that knows shit about literature or cinema) that (a) Tolkien was ever a serious literary force or that his books were ever a serious anything, or (b) that Elijah Wood furrowing his brow and bugging his eyes out for six hours constitutes good acting. (Though the dude from Rudy played a pretty good chunky/loyal sidekick, as far as that archetype goes.)
and a cursory glance at book sales during the time these movies were released would more than vindicate me on the "Tolkien craze" point. His books saw a HUGE surge in popularity when these movies were out. But like I said that doesn't make his books any more serious or these movies any less silly.
of course this argument is futile if you happened simply to "like" the movie (crap that it was). there's no accounting for taste.
OK now back to Will Smith's movie: the concept is played out and dude is a cornball.
But it wasn't mass delusion that helped the series rack up $$$.
I'm afraid mass delusion has a LOT to do with movies racking up big bucks!
I will admit I did come out the pocket for one of those LOTR joints. But I was overseas in need of a little American culture....you know like a movie about elves made by a Kiwi....
I saw this over the weekend and was real impressed. I wasn't expecting much, and didn't really believe Will Smith could pull off a more serious role well (that movie where he was homeless was awful), but he did a great job in this. It's not a deep masterpiece but it's one of the better hollywood science fiction movies I've seen.
The zombies scared the hell out of me.
I cried when the dog died. Yeah, I said it.
My friend was real mad that the movie changed the ending in the book. I haven't read it yet, but I'd like to.
Also: LOTR blows. The movie was just some cool visual and action fodder that happened to be way too long. The books are real dull. The Hobbit was kinda cool when my dad read it to me in 1st grade, but that's about it.
I liked the old Rankin & Bass Hobbit and Ralph Bakshi LOTR animated films, but that's pretty much all I need. I fell asleep during the first two of the new series, and skipped the third.
You guys are bitching and morning over the wrong flick. What really should be debated right now is WHY THE FUCK DID JASON LEE DO ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS???
And how did it do over $45 Million during the weekend.
I mean, don't get me wrong. I watched the cartoon when I was bored as a kid and I don't mine the Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas song.
will smith was, dare i say, near-brilliant few other actors could pull off an entire movie with just a dog to talk to (tom hanks failed with the volleyball) and with a wide range of emotions and decent action scenes (they were far from elaborate or ambitious but i don't think that's what they were going for, its not what the film was about) spoilers... i thought it would be pretty much impossible for him to talk to the mannequin in the video store without coming off as completely corny but big willy accomplished it... and the scene when he had to put down his dog was powerful.
and stepping off of will's jock, the movie was overall a winner. good script, well-written dialogue (monologues?), great look, great effects
lastly, all these 'its the end of the world as we know it' films (children of men, 28 days/weeks later, and i am legend) are SCARING THE SHIT OUT OF ME. is it just me, or do any of you think these doomsday predictions do NOT seem far-fetched?
lastly, all these 'its the end of the world as we know it' films (children of men, 28 days/weeks later, and i am legend) are SCARING THE SHIT OUT OF ME. is it just me, or do any of you think these doomsday predictions do NOT seem far-fetched?
I don't disagree but let's take the long-view: apocalyptic films have been a mainstay in American cinema since at least the Cold War. I guess every generation just needs to rediscover their inner paranoia.
Owen Gilberman's review in EW of this film was, I thought, lame insofar as he argues: "a world-ending virus, however possible, doesn't seem to reflect the current zeitgeist" and I'm thinking, "what Frickin' planet do you live on?" I guess "The Kingdom" is a bit more topical but c'mon; the idea of a biological agent wiping everyone out is as relevant today as it was when "12 Monkeys" dropped as it was when "The Stand" became a hot read.
By the way, I like how "I Am Legend's" depiction of NYC coincides with the release of this book:
lastly, all these 'its the end of the world as we know it' films (children of men, 28 days/weeks later, and i am legend) are SCARING THE SHIT OUT OF ME. is it just me, or do any of you think these doomsday predictions do NOT seem far-fetched?
I don't disagree but let's take the long-view: apocalyptic films have been a mainstay in American cinema since at least the Cold War. I guess every generation just needs to rediscover their inner paranoia.
i'm still scared
Owen Gilberman's review in EW of this film was, I thought, lame insofar as he argues: "a world-ending virus, however possible, doesn't seem to reflect the current zeitgeist" and I'm thinking, "what Frickin' planet do you live on?" I guess "The Kingdom" is a bit more topical but c'mon; the idea of a biological agent wiping everyone out is as relevant today as it was when "12 Monkeys" dropped as it was when "The Stand" became a hot read.
agreed. that's pretty weak criticism. and beyond that, i don't know how any critic familiar with the genre can put down this movie. but i guess thats just, like, my opinion
Alright, look, I am by no means a fan of Will Smith. As the Fresh Prince, recording artist, or actor. However, I was very impressed with his performance in this flick. The dog was pretty great as well. Story was cool, paced well, lots of action and dramatic edge-of-your-seat type moments. The way New York City was depicted was awesome. They did a superb job of re-creating NYC as a post-apocalyptic city.
You guys can argue about LOTR all ya want (those epic bore-fests were all garbage), but this flick, regardless of adhering to the original written novel, is definitely worth checking out. Smith and the dog were both equally captivating and convincing.
Comments
dude some of my favorite movies are fantasy. Blade Runner has the ability to make me ponder shit for hours and nearly moves me to tears. the first three Star Wars joints, etc. It's not about fantasy; I could write a list of dope fantasy movies.
My whole whole point was, upon revisitation after a couple years and after the inane Tolkien craze has died down, I realized that Return of the King was an extremely bad, extremely silly fantasy movie. Like it SUCKS. It was poorly acted, utilized (already) dated cornball effects and was based on a 3rd rate set of kids books masquerading as literature. Those movies will not stand the test of time; mark my words.
I wanted to walk out during the last LOTR, but my cousins and I were too busy rolling with laughter in our seats during the frolicking scenes.
That movie is bad.
uhhh...you should really know what you're talking about before you go off like that. While Tolkien's stories can easily be interpreted as Christian, he vehemently denied any religious messages people may have seen in his work. It was cliched in that it was a reworking of the traditional 'good vs. evil' storyline, but he actually hated any kind of religious interpretations people saw his own writings. In fact, I believe he and CS Lewis constantly disagreed about this point in their writings as they were contemporaries and both belonged to the same writing club in college.
Lewis, on the other hand, was unabashedly Christian.
You can hate Christianity all you want, but that doesn't mean anything you don't enjoy is intentionally Christian.
It still never ceases to amaze me how people on this board will put in countless manhours researching run-off etchings and label variations, but can't put the same energy into researching other stuff.
Secondly, you're flat out wrong about LOTR not being Christian. Tolkien says it is.
It never ceases to amaze me blah blah blah...
First of all, if we're talking genre, as much as fantasy and sci-fi share things in common, citing "Blade Runner" as a fantasy film seems rather off-base. As is including "Star Wars" even though, sure, there's a lot of overlap. But most people wouldn't normally put Philip K. Dick and C.S. Lewis in the same breath.
As for the "inane Tolkien craze", and rest of that 'graph, you're just plain wrong on pretty much everything you stated there.
Back to "I Am Legend": does this new version end the same way the original film and book does?
I wont even give those shit movies the credit of being visually stunning. computer generated "battles" that looked like a bunch of indechipherable arms flailing around and 6 hours the camera circling characters walking along a mountain top. FUCK LORD OF THE RINGS. Never have I seen movies of such incredibly low quality hailed by almost every fuckin person on the planet. awful awful awful awful. Worse than the new star wars awful.
I ride for Willow.
This is just crazy talk. Plain and simple. There's nothing conceivably wacker than the new Star Wars.
why, because you disagree with me?
I'll give you the special effects (if lava and dudes in hairy costumes are your thing, fine).
But you'd be hard-pressed to convince me (or anyone that knows shit about literature or cinema) that (a) Tolkien was ever a serious literary force or that his books were ever a serious anything, or (b) that Elijah Wood furrowing his brow and bugging his eyes out for six hours constitutes good acting. (Though the dude from Rudy played a pretty good chunky/loyal sidekick, as far as that archetype goes.)
and a cursory glance at book sales during the time these movies were released would more than vindicate me on the "Tolkien craze" point. His books saw a HUGE surge in popularity when these movies were out. But like I said that doesn't make his books any more serious or these movies any less silly.
of course this argument is futile if you happened simply to "like" the movie (crap that it was). there's no accounting for taste.
OK now back to Will Smith's movie: the concept is played out and dude is a cornball.
Next.
PS is "'graph" that next "plex 'phors"?
LOTR raised the bar on epic films. Period. I disagree with the idea that the shit was terrible but I can respect that people found it overwrought. But it wasn't mass delusion that helped the series rack up $$$.
More like editing shorthand. As in, "I think the third graph in this Source Pages article needs to be trimmed."
hahaha!
I'm afraid mass delusion has a LOT to do with movies racking up big bucks!
I will admit I did come out the pocket for one of those LOTR joints. But I was overseas in need of a little American culture....you know like a movie about elves made by a Kiwi....
BAN!
p.s. remind me to punch you face next time i see you.
^^^^^ PHILLY BIAS REVEALED ^^^^^^
^^proof reading documents late night in the embarcadero with no life revealed^^
step up your step ups, holmes.
The zombies scared the hell out of me.
I cried when the dog died. Yeah, I said it.
My friend was real mad that the movie changed the ending in the book. I haven't read it yet, but I'd like to.
Also: LOTR blows. The movie was just some cool visual and action fodder that happened to be way too long. The books are real dull. The Hobbit was kinda cool when my dad read it to me in 1st grade, but that's about it.
animated films, but that's pretty much all I need. I fell asleep
during the first two of the new series, and skipped the third.
that was pretty next level at the time. the battle scene in the end still looks pretty ill.
And how did it do over $45 Million during the weekend.
I mean, don't get me wrong. I watched the cartoon when I was bored as a kid and I don't mine the Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas song.
But this movie looks like a pile of dog doody.
must have to do with him being a scientologist.
mark me down as another fan
will smith was, dare i say, near-brilliant
few other actors could pull off an entire movie with just a dog to talk to (tom hanks failed with the volleyball) and with a wide range of emotions and decent action scenes (they were far from elaborate or ambitious but i don't think that's what they were going for, its not what the film was about)
spoilers... i thought it would be pretty much impossible for him to talk to the mannequin in the video store without coming off as completely corny but big willy accomplished it... and the scene when he had to put down his dog was powerful.
and stepping off of will's jock, the movie was overall a winner. good script, well-written dialogue (monologues?), great look, great effects
lastly, all these 'its the end of the world as we know it' films (children of men, 28 days/weeks later, and i am legend) are SCARING THE SHIT OUT OF ME. is it just me, or do any of you think these doomsday predictions do NOT seem far-fetched?
I don't disagree but let's take the long-view: apocalyptic films have been a mainstay in American cinema since at least the Cold War. I guess every generation just needs to rediscover their inner paranoia.
Owen Gilberman's review in EW of this film was, I thought, lame insofar as he argues: "a world-ending virus, however possible, doesn't seem to reflect the current zeitgeist" and I'm thinking, "what Frickin' planet do you live on?" I guess "The Kingdom" is a bit more topical but c'mon; the idea of a biological agent wiping everyone out is as relevant today as it was when "12 Monkeys" dropped as it was when "The Stand" became a hot read.
By the way, I like how "I Am Legend's" depiction of NYC coincides with the release of this book:
i'm still scared
agreed. that's pretty weak criticism. and beyond that, i don't know how any critic familiar with the genre can put down this movie. but i guess thats just, like, my opinion
You guys can argue about LOTR all ya want (those epic bore-fests were all garbage), but this flick, regardless of adhering to the original written novel, is definitely worth checking out. Smith and the dog were both equally captivating and convincing.
Most excellent backhanded compliment ever.