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 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Constantine

A genuinely awful interpretation of the source material.

But…push past it and you have a genuinely decent movie with a pretty solid story. Good SFX for its era, slightly ropey but still enjoyable acting from the two leads, with The Baddies effortlessly upstaging them - though admittedly that is totally bonus points in my Idiot’s Book Of Scoring Movies.

I really enjoyed that Constantine movie. I never read the original comic books, so not wedded to the canon, but was dimly aware of them.

MarkNorfolk wrote:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Constantine

A genuinely awful interpretation of the source material.

But…push past it and you have a genuinely decent movie with a pretty solid story. Good SFX for its era, slightly ropey but still enjoyable acting from the two leads, with The Baddies effortlessly upstaging them - though admittedly that is totally bonus points in my Idiot’s Book Of Scoring Movies.

I really enjoyed that Constantine movie. I never read the original comic books, so not wedded to the canon, but was dimly aware of them.

Same here!
Sometimes adaptations like that work for new customers because we have no concept of the character beyond "oh hey he's some comic character who fights the devil and demons".

I’d wasn’t familiar with the source at the time myself.

I’ve since read some, and get the criticism. Movie is still pretty decent. Even like Judge Dredd it’s kinda mislabelled.

Though I will still defend Judge Dredd!

This is a fun thread, a lot of what I wanted to touch on has been already said, but I've got plenty more.

Someone mentioned Hudson Hawk a while back, I love that movie. It's so fast pasted and zany that it was super hard to follow on the first watch, but I've really gained an appreciation for how funny, silly, and creative it is over multiple viewings.

I like Star Trek Inssurection, but not as a Trek film. I think if it has been it's own thing, it would have been great, but in that specific time in the Trek universe as part of the broader lore, it doesn't work at all.

Demolition Man: I freaking love this movie, just the right about of ridiculous, with plenty of action, jokes, and a mountain of quotable lines.

Daybreakers: Everyone seems to have forgotten about this movie, but I really liked it. The opening scene was super chilling and really set the tone for the whole film. Great idea, the world is taken over by Vampires and humans are endangered basically being farmed for blood, but there isn't enough to go around and everyone is starving.

I imagine this is going to be super unpopular, but I really like the Doom movie: Okay so hear me out, I never played the original 2 Doom games, only the 3rd, and I really liked it. I think the tone and feel of the story really matches THAT game, but I totally see why fans of the other games dislike this take on the story. (Yeah I was kinda sad they weren't actually demons from the teleporter, but I still liked it).

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Constantine

A genuinely awful interpretation of the source material.

But…push past it and you have a genuinely decent movie with a pretty solid story. Good SFX for its era, slightly ropey but still enjoyable acting from the two leads, with The Baddies effortlessly upstaging them - though admittedly that is totally bonus points in my Idiot’s Book Of Scoring Movies.

I think my fanboyism for John has been firmly established and at first movie made me grumpier than the fumble that was Tank Girl, but given just how British, and of a certain time period, the comic was it was always going to suffer in the sausage machine, along with the twitchy handling of anything celestial/infernal over the pond, now I just file it under "oh well" Ms Swinton was spot on mind as the book Gabriel was kind of a donk too

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I’d wasn’t familiar with the source at the time myself.

I’ve since read some, and get the criticism. Movie is still pretty decent. Even like Judge Dredd it’s kinda mislabelled.

Though I will still defend Judge Dredd!

Stallone Dredd is a legit good time.

“Laaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwww!”


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, and another hill: Crocodile Dundee 2 is better than the first one.

It might just be because of one scene.

Speaking of movies you enjoy because you aren't familiar with the source, I rather enjoyed the Wing Commander movie.Was a fun little sci-fi action/drama romp.

 Overread wrote:

MarkNorfolk wrote:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Constantine

A genuinely awful interpretation of the source material.

But…push past it and you have a genuinely decent movie with a pretty solid story. Good SFX for its era, slightly ropey but still enjoyable acting from the two leads, with The Baddies effortlessly upstaging them - though admittedly that is totally bonus points in my Idiot’s Book Of Scoring Movies.

I really enjoyed that Constantine movie. I never read the original comic books, so not wedded to the canon, but was dimly aware of them.

Same here!
Sometimes adaptations like that work for new customers because we have no concept of the character beyond "oh hey he's some comic character who fights the devil and demons".

Basically the MCU. Go back 15 years in time and ask people on the street about Iron Man, Hawkeye or even Captain America and you'll get blank looks. Part of the success of the MCU was that the B-list characters Marvel could use had no live-action baggage.

 Hoitash wrote:
Speaking of movies you enjoy because you aren't familiar with the source, I rather enjoyed the Wing Commander movie.Was a fun little sci-fi action/drama romp.

dunno if this will necessarily top it, but Last Starfighter. To this day, my wife has never made it through this movie, but I'd say it ticks all the boxes here: Its terrible, but for whatever reason I just love it.

Last Starfighter! Surely that’s cult by this point, or is it just me? My 9-14 year old self couldn’t get enough of it. Pretty sure I wore the VHS tape out.

Welcome starfighter. You have been recruited by the star league to defend the frontier against Xur and the Kodan armada!

“What do we do?”

“We die!”

 gorgon wrote:

 Overread wrote:

MarkNorfolk wrote:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Constantine

A genuinely awful interpretation of the source material.

But…push past it and you have a genuinely decent movie with a pretty solid story. Good SFX for its era, slightly ropey but still enjoyable acting from the two leads, with The Baddies effortlessly upstaging them - though admittedly that is totally bonus points in my Idiot’s Book Of Scoring Movies.

I really enjoyed that Constantine movie. I never read the original comic books, so not wedded to the canon, but was dimly aware of them.

Same here!
Sometimes adaptations like that work for new customers because we have no concept of the character beyond "oh hey he's some comic character who fights the devil and demons".

Basically the MCU. Go back 15 years in time and ask people on the street about Iron Man, Hawkeye or even Captain America and you'll get blank looks. Part of the success of the MCU was that the B-list characters Marvel could use had no live-action baggage.

Eh? Cap had quite a bit of live-action baggage. The truly, utterly terrible stuff that wasn't even that old.

Adaptations of Captain America in other media
Film(s) Captain America (1944) Captain America (1979) Captain America II: Death Too Soon (1979) Captain America (1990) Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) Captain America: Civil War (2016_

Hawkeye is of course at the opposite end of things, where they took the gimmick (man uses bow) and just literally tossed everything else out for 'generic secret agent man... but with a bow'

 Elemental wrote:

 AnomanderRake wrote:
Star Trek: Nemesis. Often held up as the worst Star Trek movie, and I know bad reviews killed the franchise for a while. I know they killed Data, I know they forgot about the transporters in the shuttlecraft, but the music's top-notch, the acting and the story are in the finest traditions of the franchise, the effects in general and the climactic space battle particularly are gorgeous, and to me it made a far better actionized interpretation of Star Trek than any of the reboots.

One comment I saw on Nemesis that always stuck in my mind (no idea how accurate it is) was "By all means go see Nemesis, just bear in mind that this is a movie written by and for fifteen year old boys...every scene is written on the principle of "Wouldn't it be SO COOL if THIS happened?!""

My own nomination is the two Charlies Angels movies with Lucy Liu, Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore. Totally nonsensical, the whole thing runs on rule of cool...but it's just plain fun. The sequel is a bit weaker, but benefits from Demi Moore munching the scenery as the villain.

I will agree that THOSE Charlies Angels movies were pretty fun. However, if anyone dares to defend the most recent Charlies Angels movie as anything greater than sub-average (and that's being generous), they are just wrong, period.

 Flinty wrote:
Last Starfighter! Surely that’s cult by this point, or is it just me? My 9-14 year old self couldn’t get enough of it. Pretty sure I wore the VHS tape out.

Welcome starfighter. You have been recruited by the star league to defend the frontier against Xur and the Kodan armada!

“What do we do?”

“We die!”

The head melting scene is pretty rad!

Oscar, staring Sylvester Stallone, Marisa Tomei, and Tim Curry.

Constantine has some especially stunning production design that does a lot of heavy lifting. It's got fabulous style, and the little touches like gender ambiguous Gabriel (a nod to renaissance art I think?) or Satan's filthy feet are just so cleverly thought out it elevates everything else. The script can afford to be a little thinner than it would otherwise because so much of the set dressing, costuming and general aesthetic is all doing plenty of storytelling already.

 cuda1179 wrote:
Oscar, staring Sylvester Stallone, Marisa Tomei, and Tim Curry.

Money, more money. What's this? A crisp, new $20 bill?

I’m really fond of the Golden Child, and I’m not sure why. I can’t think of any singular aspect of the film I can point to and say, “That was well executed.”

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I’m really fond of the Golden Child, and I’m not sure why. I can’t think of any singular aspect of the film I can point to and say, “That was well executed.”

I,I,I,I want the kniiiiife. Pleeeeease.
That's pretty well executed.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Ork-en Man wrote:

 cuda1179 wrote:
Oscar, staring Sylvester Stallone, Marisa Tomei, and Tim Curry.

Money, more money. What's this? A crisp, new $20 bill?

Expeditious.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:

 Flinty wrote:
Last Starfighter! Surely that’s cult by this point, or is it just me? My 9-14 year old self couldn’t get enough of it. Pretty sure I wore the VHS tape out.

Welcome starfighter. You have been recruited by the star league to defend the frontier against Xur and the Kodan armada!

“What do we do?”

“We die!”

The head melting scene is pretty rad!

That clip, it was later found, greatly reduced applications for the master spy position with the Rylan intelligence service.

It truly warms this not-terribly-old gamer's heart to see people quoting the movie Oscar. One of my favorite comedy movies of all time!

"You have a daughter by the new maid?!"

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I’m really fond of the Golden Child, and I’m not sure why. I can’t think of any singular aspect of the film I can point to and say, “That was well executed.”

Right there with you. As best I can tell it's the one-liners from Eddie Murphy and his interaction with Victor Wong.

"Well this water ain't that pure, Monty."

"Neither are you!"

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I’d wasn’t familiar with the source at the time myself.

I’ve since read some, and get the criticism. Movie is still pretty decent. Even like Judge Dredd it’s kinda mislabelled.

Though I will still defend Judge Dredd!

Stallone Dredd is a legit good time.

“Laaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwww!”


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, and another hill: Crocodile Dundee 2 is better than the first one.

It might just be because of one scene.

"Bala de bala?"

"No, mate. We're just supposed to hold 'em."

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Constantine

A genuinely awful interpretation of the source material.

But…push past it and you have a genuinely decent movie with a pretty solid story. Good SFX for its era, slightly ropey but still enjoyable acting from the two leads, with The Baddies effortlessly upstaging them - though admittedly that is totally bonus points in my Idiot’s Book Of Scoring Movies.

I quite enjoyed that film. Probably because I've never read the comics, so I wasn't comparing it to anything. Well, apart from his cameos in early Sandman and The Books of Magic.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I’d wasn’t familiar with the source at the time myself.

I’ve since read some, and get the criticism. Movie is still pretty decent. Even like Judge Dredd it’s kinda mislabelled.

Though I will still defend Judge Dredd!

Judge Dredd looks like the comic, which doesn't always work, but Dredd feels more like it. If we'd got Dredd with Judge Dredd's budget, I'd have been happy all round. Although I did read that Stallone wasn't aware of Dredd's thing of never showing his face, and that if he'd known it was so important to the fanbase he may well have left the helmet on.