I was told that there were some people here who were into Kurt Wimmer's last movie Equilibrium. So I'm a little surprised that there hasn't yet been a topic on his new movie Ultraviolet.
I don't know if I'm going to see this one. The trailer looks like another Aeon Flux. I've seen Equilibrium, and it seems to me that Wimmer has a real talent for using the most worn-out, tired sci-fi cliches and playing them like he just had the most profound idea ever. First it's the Orwellian dystopia, and now it's the government-created super-soldier that is marked for termination.
At least Equilibrium had some reasonably creative and well-executed action ideas going along with the tired melodrama. If the trailers are anything to go by, Ultraviolet won't even have that. Milla Jovovich as an action hero in this movie looks about as convincing as when they got Hervé Villechaize to try to beat up Roger Moore in The Man With the Golden Gun.
So any Wimmer fans here want to defend the movie? Or does everyone else agree that this looks like a disaster in the making?
Posted by TL (Member # 8124) on :
Oh, I'll be seeing it. I'll definitely be seeing it.
And I think it would sell a lot more tickets if they just went ahead and changed the title to 'Milla Jovovich's Stomach'.
Posted by Irami Osei-Frimpong (Member # 2229) on :
quote:And I think it would sell a lot more tickets if they just went ahead and changed the title to 'Milla Jovovich's Stomach'.
Agreed. I rented Equilibrium on the strength of the recommendations of this forum, and I'm still angry. The movie was embarrassingly awful.
[ March 01, 2006, 02:45 PM: Message edited by: Irami Osei-Frimpong ]
Posted by password (Member # 9105) on :
On the basis of watching what is widely regarded as her best movie ("The Fifth Element"), I say Milla Jovovich is not only nowhere the actress *or* action hero that Summer Glau is (the fight scenes in 5th Element where laughably bad), she's not even as pretty. This from a non-browncoat, too (though I thought Serenity was quite good).
Posted by Rabid Newz (Member # 7704) on :
I think that this Ultraviolet would be a waste of money that I don't have. I guess that makes my decision for me.
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
Milla Jovovich is GORGEOUS.
Everyone knows that.
-pH
Posted by Rabid Newz (Member # 7704) on :
Two things:
1) That is a matter of opinion.
2) pH, I saw your username on a bottle of shampoo.
Posted by Baron Samedi (Member # 9175) on :
quote:Originally posted by password: On the basis of watching what is widely regarded as her best movie ("The Fifth Element"), I say Milla Jovovich is not only nowhere the actress *or* action hero that Summer Glau is (the fight scenes in 5th Element where laughably bad), she's not even as pretty. This from a non-browncoat, too (though I thought Serenity was quite good).
Still, I'm glad Summer didn't get cast in this. As bad as Milla's skillz look, I don't think better acting or fighting could save this movie. This could very well be a career killer, and I'd rather see it happen to Milla than Summer.
And about whether Milla is pretty or not, she's an interesting phenomenon. She can look like about 6 completely different people depending on how she's fixed up and photographed. Two of those people are stunningly gorgeous, a couple are decent looking, and the other two are absolutely hideous. She looks okay in the trailer, but I've seen better.
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
Besides, I don't think the Fifth Element was meant to be taken seriously. I thought it was a fun movie.
And Milla can do no wrong.
-pH
Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
quote:This could very well be a career killer, and I'd rather see it happen to Milla than Summer.
Word.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
I think it looks amazing, and plan on seeing it with friends this Monday.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
I'm amazed that Resident Evil didn't succeed in destroying Milla's career.
Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
Porter, it did destroy her career.
Her stomach, however, is still making really good money. Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
I loved Resident Evil. And hopefully I'll get to see Ultraviolet on Friday, too.
-pH
Posted by Bob the Lawyer (Member # 3278) on :
Equilibrium does, however, make a fantastic drinking game.
"Ok, Ok, every time he takes off his gloves, you take a shot."
The only problem is there are some places where we cut quickly to several scenes of him taking off his gloves, which makes it difficult to fill your glass in time.
Posted by Advent 115 (Member # 8914) on :
quote:Originally posted by pH: I loved Resident Evil. And hopefully I'll get to see Ultraviolet on Friday, too.
-pH
Same here!
And she is beautiful. *YEAH!*
And I already bought tickets for Monday night. Posted by Epictetus (Member # 6235) on :
I loved Equilibrium, sure it was a rehash of Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451, but that close quarters gunfight at the end kicked butt!
That being said, Ultraviolet looks incredibly stupid, and I probably won't see it until it comes out on video and I can rent it for half the price of a movie ticket...and take notes for future drinking games later.
Posted by Epictetus (Member # 6235) on :
By the way, Bob the Lawyer, try drinking to Episode III. I like to call it "Anakin, Master, Force" 1 shot, 2 shots, and 3 shots respectively.
Posted by Enigmatic (Member # 7785) on :
Wow, Epictetus, and here I thought I was bad about inciting people to alcoholism! Do people survive that drinking game?
I may catch Ultraviolet if I'm bored some weekend, but it's not a must-see. Looks pretty stupid and the super-soldier description in the trailer sounds like "we're basically vampires but we don't want to say 'vampires' cuz that's been done to death." I really enjoyed Resident Evil. RE2, not so much. Haven't seen Equilibrium.
--Enigmatic
Posted by Epictetus (Member # 6235) on :
I think me and my friends got about 30 minutes into it before what little common sense we had left caused us to stop. I don't recommend doing it, unless you want to pass out very, very quickly.
Posted by Baron Samedi (Member # 9175) on :
So I just looked over at rottentomatoes, and it appears that they're not screening this movie for critcs.
Suspicions confirmed.
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
I liked Aeon Flux, too.
Charlize and Milla should do some kind of ass-kicking movie together. With zombies and vampires and genetic engineering.
That would be the best movie ever.
And throw in some sex scenes with Vin Diesel and Cillian Murphy.
Wow, I should totally write movies.
-pH
Posted by TL (Member # 8124) on :
Why would anyone want to watch a sex scene with Vin Diesel and Cillian Murphy??
Posted by Advent 115 (Member # 8914) on :
I'm secure enough in my masculinity to say that Vin Diesel is a good looking guy, but I'm not so sure I need to see him doing a sex scene.
I prefer him as the bad ass criminal like Riddick. Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
LOL...I thought the same thing when I read that.
Then again, Brokeback Mountain is up for how many Oscars? Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
quote:Originally posted by Advent 115: I prefer him as the bad ass criminal like Riddick.
Badass criminal Riddick in a sex scene!
I would pay good money for that.
-pH
Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
quote:Badass criminal Riddick in a sex scene!
I would pay good money for that.
-pH
Word.
Posted by blacwolve (Member # 2972) on :
quote:Originally posted by Bob the Lawyer: Equilibrium does, however, make a fantastic drinking game.
"Ok, Ok, every time he takes off his gloves, you take a shot."
The only problem is there are some places where we cut quickly to several scenes of him taking off his gloves, which makes it difficult to fill your glass in time.
My enginneering friends developed a similar drinking game around the movie "The Core." Everytime something latantly unscientific happened, they took half a shot. They both passed out before the movie was half over, and neither touched alcohol again for about 6 months.
Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
*luvs her some Karl* Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
Posted by TheGrimace (Member # 9178) on :
wow, as an engineer I think I would have just passed out at the very thought of such a drinking game about The Core... Every time I saw previews of that movie even it just made me shudder.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
lol
I had the same reaction at the end of the book The Hot Zone made a "bio-suit" out of trash bags.
And it was non-fiction, he supposedly really did that. He was fairly close to reality most of that book, although he was trying to use scare tactics, but the end showed how sensationalistic he was really trying to be. Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
Well, clearly he was just expressing his fashion sense. Trash bags are in this season. It's DERELICHTE.
I vaguely recall trying to play a drinking came concerning 12 Monkeys once. Vaguely. Which should give you an idea of how the game ended.
-pH
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
Probably made about as much sense as the movie did. Posted by His Savageness (Member # 7428) on :
Isn't that cute... Aeon Flux and Kill Bill had a baby!
Posted by airmanfour (Member # 6111) on :
Aeon Flux was like watching a boring car crash. And Milla Jovovovich is HOT!!!
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Baron, did you get your screen name from voodoo, or from the VCR Game "Nightmare"?
Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :
quote:And Milla can do no wrong.
Posted by Baron Samedi (Member # 9175) on :
quote:Originally posted by His Savageness: Isn't that cute... Aeon Flux and Kill Bill had a baby!
Yes!
Posted by Baron Samedi (Member # 9175) on :
Rottentomatoes is finally getting some reviews up. Here's my favorite quote so far:
quote: "Although it masquerades as a futuristic action-thriller, Ultraviolet functions best as a multi-million dollar commercial for Milla Jovovich's personal trainer."
- Dan Fienberg, ZAP2IT.COM
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Cor saw it tonight . . . she reports: . . . good, strong female character, great costumes for her, cheesy dialogue, some good action sequences, some action impossible to follow, some good CGI, some special effects that look more like watching a cartoon than a movie. Assuming this is based on a comic book (?) the plot is difficult to follow without the backstory, until about halfway through the movie.
Posted by Carrie (Member # 394) on :
quote:Originally posted by blacwolve:
quote:Originally posted by Bob the Lawyer: Equilibrium does, however, make a fantastic drinking game.
"Ok, Ok, every time he takes off his gloves, you take a shot."
The only problem is there are some places where we cut quickly to several scenes of him taking off his gloves, which makes it difficult to fill your glass in time.
My enginneering friends developed a similar drinking game around the movie "The Core." Everytime something latantly unscientific happened, they took half a shot. They both passed out before the movie was half over, and neither touched alcohol again for about 6 months.
That would be something like classicists and "Troy" - every time they only f*&# up the mythology a little, it's one shot. When Menelaus or Big Ajax or Agamemnon dies at the COMPLETE wrong time or Achilles is in the Trojan Horse or Paris and Helen escape together or Paris randomly runs into Aeneas... finish the fracking bottle so that you don't remember the movie in the morning Posted by Jeesh (Member # 9163) on :
Does anyone here realize that Ultraviolet and Aeon Flux are basically the same story?
Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
I saw it tonight. It is a trainwreck of every futuristic, dytopian, female martial arts, vampire, cliche-ridden, action-flick wannabe, with stilted dialog and murky special effects there is.
Other than that it was ok.
Milla Jojovich was "hot" in an always viewed through a vaseline-covered lens sort of way. In other words, if you are near-sighted and forget your glasses, you won't notice during this film.
Other than that, it was , um, "stylish". Someone wanna tell me what all the bales of cotten were doing around the "ministry"? Or were they crushed junkyard cars? I couldn't tell. (It was the damn vaseline thing again.) Or maybe my contacts were dried out. Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
My brother found several episodes of an intended TV series of Ultraviolet that got cancelled before Fox ever broadcast a single scene. I think it got airplay in France from what he was telling me. Anyway, from what he saw, it sounded at least mildly interesting. I probably won't bother with bigscreen (partly because of childcare issues and partly because I'd like to get more first-person feedback)
Posted by naledge (Member # 392) on :
Three words to describe this movie.
HOR RI BLE!
This movie took away about 2 hours of my life that I can never get back! In those two hours even I could have written a better screenplay.
I'm an engineer by trade and I've made it a point a long, long time ago to never compare movie physics to actual physical possiblities. My willingness to suspend my disbelief for movies and TV is usually very strong, so I really don't need to participate in any drinking games based on violation of the currently understood laws of phyics to ease the suffering of bad hollywood flicks. Besides, my liver couldn't take it and I don't like treating alcohol like the fifth food group anymore. But I do wish I could of had something to dull the excruciating pain I felt while watching this movie. Maybe a couple shots of grain alcohol-wait, just make that rubbing alcohol. Just put me out of my misery now!
Why didn't I like this movie... I'm no critic, so don't expect fine detailed observations. Just a few general thoughts...
Some of the CG action sequences looked very cheaply done. I'm not sure if that was the intent, and that they tried to pass it off as the "style" of the film, but to me it just seemed like they ran out of money to put the sequences through a final rendering.
If I had any clue that this was going to contain vampire elements, I would of just watched Underworld Evolution again. It would of been worth my SEVEN DOLLAR MATINEE CHARGE! (Ok so i went to an upscale movie theater after taking a half day off of work--I mean even I can treat myself nice sometimes, right?)
I still don't really understand why the kid was going to die, and why he lives again. Or really why they needed to create him in the first place. Nor did I ever really care.
But It was kind of spooky seeing him in the suitcase though. FLATSPACE TECHNOLOGY, indeed (takes shot)
VOICE OVERS SUUUUUUUUUUCK!!! Especially for exposition.
The gun-kata stuff was a cool novelty for Equilibrium, which I loved visually by the way.But I've grown sick of it just like the Matrix style battle sequences. Please stop it! A message to bad guys... if you are chasing a superstrong, well-known, paramilitary, anti-hero killing machine and they coax you and your comrades into encircling him or her completely with an unobstructed view and you have your weapons drawn. DO NOT FIRE YOUR WEAPON!!!
Milla, Milla, Milla. I can't take another movie of her as a action star. How about a good drama or warm romantic comedy just to shake things up. I don't really like those type of movies, but I would support it just to see her get some range.
I don't mean to go on a rant here, but...
I wish writers or directors, or writer+directors or whoever else green lights this kind of crap would stop thinking of cool action sequences they would like to film, and then think "Well, how can I build a story around this?" Just film the damn scene! Actually get a couple other high profile directors and filmamkers to partner with you who can write equally appalling stories and dialogue, and have them film any other visually entertaining action sequence that they been salivating to stick in film and put it ALL IN ONE MOVIE!!! Call it the "Best Action Scenes Ever Conceived!!" Two hours of working stiff security guards and rent a cops working for fascist regimes and totalitarian dictator goverments meeting their end at the hands of superior fighting, deadly accurate, incredibly lucky superhero types through guns, explosions, vehicle crashs, and martial arts would be great!!! At least I would know what I am getting in to. I don't mind mindless movie violence and explosions, just stop trying to couch it with bad plot, bad character development, and bad dialogue. I mean that only makes me antsy and longing for the movie to hurry up to the next action sequence.
I'll step off my soapbox now. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING. ==================================================
I don't sound bitter do I?
-nal
Posted by Lord Solar Macharius (Member # 7775) on :
Yes, you sound bitter.
You also sound like you have every right to be bitter.
Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
quote:Originally posted by Narnia: Porter, it did destroy her career.
Technically speaking, did she have a career to destroy?</snark>
Personally, I think she's an extraordinarily wooden actress who gets jobs because the men casting her think she's hawt. I'm one of those people who doesn't understand the attraction at all. *shrug* To each his own.
I had an ex once who was obsessed with her a whole freakin' bunch; I got dragged to see Fifth Element an absurd number of times. Later, my husband further cemented his place in my heart by referring to her as "Twiggy." Posted by lem (Member # 6914) on :
4% on rottentomatoes! It is like getting an F in highschool--you have to work pretty hard to get that bad of grade.
The best part of bad movies is reading all the reviews. I have been laughing for the past 30 minutes reading all the rotten scores.
It almost makes me want to see the movie.
Posted by mtg101 (Member # 9224) on :
If you want to watch something about vampires called Ultraviolet, can I suggest the excellent 1998 UK TV series: http://tinyurl.com/nxo9o Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
That's what my brother found!
Posted by mtg101 (Member # 9224) on :
Ahhh... another Fox masterpiece! They cancel Firefly, they cancel Futurama, they don't even show Ultraviolet...
At least we've still got Fox News eh?
Posted by Baron Samedi (Member # 9175) on :
I loved the review, nalege.
Just wanted to give props.
Posted by Kristen (Member # 9200) on :
I just saw it tonight, and I must say it was so bad it was hilarious (N.B. I am the sort to delight in an Ed Wood movie).
We literally spent the entire movie giving each other incredulous looks, and trying to stiffle our laughs, and while I won't deny that Mila is hot, skintight outfits and multiple lip gloss changes does not a movie make. OK, here is a preliminary Spoiler Alert :
The fundamental flaws behind the movie can be exemplified by noting that while the movie takes place in a futuristic cyberworld where
**********SPOILER ALERT************
gravity equalizers, ray guns, and superhuman assassains exist, a method of attempting to kill a very important individual is DROPPING HIM INTO A WELL.
I could go on, but unless you like unintentionally bad movies, I would recommend waiting for it to come out on DVD or appear on a late night HBO line-up.
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Yes!
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