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Si Fi movies of late. [Spoilers]
 

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

11/5/13 9:57 AM

Si Fi movies of late. [Spoilers]

Elaine and I saw After Earth [waited to rent] and Ender's Game at the Theater yeditty.

My son gave me the Ender's Game book a while back, and the Juvenal flavor for this old fart had me put it down pretty quick. But he is just 20 and related to that better than I. I wanted to enjoy it just to compliment his taste and wanting to share it with me.

The movie got around that a little more, and was pretty good actually. It was obvious to me the 'surprise' even though I got no where near that in the book.

After Earth, not so much. But for a rainy day rental worth the RedBox $ IMO.

Harrison Ford needs to stay home i think. There, I said it. Sorry Hans


Last edited by Sparky on 11/7/13 11:09 AM; edited 1 time in total

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Andy M-S
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3377
Location: Hamden (greater New Haven) CT

11/5/13 11:17 AM

Ender's Game

I read Ender's Game not long after it came out, c. 25 years ago. It was obvious then that it was a book about video games...and it still is :-) On the other hand, if you look at it in the context of its publication, it's remarkably prescient in terms of tablets (see other thread) and such.

I thought the movie was great. Yes, the punchline is fairly obvious, but still--it never felt like it was lagging, and it was much more involving than (say) Pacific Rim (ugh). I have friends who are enthusiasts who would like to have seen Ender's Game spread over two or three films (there are some subplots that were dropped for this one) but I think that would have been a big mistake.

As it is, it's an entertaining bit of slightly-more-complex than-usual action SF.

Even if I do think its author is a jerk.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

11/5/13 12:08 PM

I did not realize the book was written that long ago...

Sir Ben, even though only a few years younger than Ford, seems to have a lot faster firing synapses. I will leave it at that...

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Andy M-S
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3377
Location: Hamden (greater New Haven) CT

11/5/13 3:41 PM

1985, in fact

Yoiks! I'm even older than I think I am!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ender%27s_game

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

11/5/13 4:06 PM

We rented Oblivion recently also. Good rental fodder IMO and also easy to see the 'surprise' coming.

I put this on par with or a touch better than After Earth personally... I liked it enough to watch it again the next day before returning it.


Last edited by Sparky on 11/5/13 4:23 PM; edited 1 time in total

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Andy M-S
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3377
Location: Hamden (greater New Haven) CT

11/5/13 4:20 PM

Oblivion. Apt title.

I found Oblivion to be rather boring. After Earth was OK, if a little "artificial" in the plot department, and IMO (from what I've seen) Will Smith should not be doing "serious" acting. He's at his best when he can do a silly grin or throw off a one-liner.

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ErikS
Joined: 19 May 2005
Posts: 8337
Location: Slowing boiling over in the steamy south, Global Warming is real

11/6/13 8:01 PM

Spoiler, for a book written in 85, nope, your fault read it

I have read Ender many times. It is much more than a juvenile book, much more.

The manipulation of children, the acceptance of those that are different and the horrors of war are all plots that the book and the movie explored. My 13 year old son has also read it a few times and understands the true plot to the story.

"Speaker for the Dead" has deep meanings also. Read it but it is much more complicated than Ender.

I felt the movie was very well done, it kept the faith of the book. It was very well cast and in fact the young kid who played Ender could not have been better cast and the acting was good too.

The movie audience, when we went was mixed. I heard cheers at the enemy defeat and gasps as they really understood the implications. Those new to the story were educated quickly to the horrors of war and the true implications. For a nation long hardened to the horrors of war, this movie could open some eyes and some minds if the audience can actually think.


Last edited by ErikS on 11/7/13 5:00 AM; edited 1 time in total

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

11/6/13 8:20 PM

I did not mean to suggest it was too Juvenal, just that this flavor caused me to be dis-interested quickly, and wordy too. As a young reader would need, as filling in between lines when you have few years on the planet required it be wordy to that audience ??


"For a nation long hardened to the horrors of war, this movie could open some eyes and some minds if the audience can actually think."

Was that the point of the book ?

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ErikS
Joined: 19 May 2005
Posts: 8337
Location: Slowing boiling over in the steamy south, Global Warming is real

11/6/13 8:29 PM

Yes and how people are manipulated along with bullying of the meek and compassion/empathy.

It is so much more than a kiddy video game movie and book.

Go see it and think as you watch it.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

11/6/13 9:31 PM

"Go see it and think as you watch it."

So it held true to the book in that sense I take it.

You do realize I started the tread based on having seen it, right?

And don't tell me when to think. ;)

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ErikS
Joined: 19 May 2005
Posts: 8337
Location: Slowing boiling over in the steamy south, Global Warming is real

11/7/13 4:56 AM

I suspect most of us have read the book.

Yes, I know you saw it but the thirty or so other people who may read this thread may not have.

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Andy M-S
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3377
Location: Hamden (greater New Haven) CT

11/7/13 6:03 AM

Hmmmm

For all the complaining about Starship Troopers (including mine) it does in some ways a better job at pointing out the role of propaganda and manipulation--though the movie takes this to such an extreme that this particular evil is reduced to banality, much like the evil of the Harkonnens in the 1984 version of Dune. The evil is made so evil that it becomes a cartoon.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

11/7/13 11:11 AM

I added [Spoiler] to the OP Subject. Probably late, but I appear to be the only one that had not read through the book. Or even realized the original printing time frame...

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ErikS
Joined: 19 May 2005
Posts: 8337
Location: Slowing boiling over in the steamy south, Global Warming is real

11/7/13 5:43 PM

Starship troopers was way to campy to make the point that the book made. The movie went over the top.

The Ender movie did it subtlety and left more of an impact.

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Andy M-S
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3377
Location: Hamden (greater New Haven) CT

11/7/13 6:58 PM

ST v Ender

No argument that Ender was a far better film, but any deeper meanings will tend to go over peoples' heads precisely because it WAS such a well-made film.

I highly recommend the TV (SF) version of Dune, FWIW.

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Andy M-S
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3377
Location: Hamden (greater New Haven) CT

11/7/13 6:59 PM

ST v Ender

No argument that Ender was a far better film, but any deeper meanings will tend to go over peoples' heads precisely because it WAS such a well-made film.

I highly recommend the TV (SF) version of Dune, FWIW.

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