posted
Yeah, Ford sounds awful. It's like someone doing a cheesy impression of him playing the president from Air Force One.
Posts: 4600 | Registered: Mar 2000
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quote:If you haven't read the book, you have no idea what that explosion is.
Yeah, but you are going to know when you see the movie.
quote:What a thing. Wow. The tone does look right.
We live in very different worlds. The tone (kick ass space adventure) was exactly what I was afraid it was going to be. Ender's Game, the book, is primarily a psychological work. What "Wow, cool!" stuff there is is on a child's level.
In this, they opened with a Michael Bey sequence and turned Ender's agonized quitting "I don't even care anymore" final use of the MD device into a resolute attack.
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I remember the trailer for Moon being all high octane action mystery, but the real movie was far from that. And in a very good way.
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But, you've got to really wonder if they get the book when they put a huge spoiler in the trailer and make it look like an "America, heck yeah!" moment, instead of the action of a beyond exhausted, broken little kid who can't take any more.
Posts: 10177 | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
FORD: When they attacked us, there was a lot of CGI.
CGI: pyoo pyoo pyoo!
FORD: If we're going to survive, we need an Inception BWAAAAAWM.
BWAAAAWM: BWAAAAAWM.
FORD: Thank you.
CGI: pyoo pyoo pyoo!
FORD: We will .. need ... for Asa Butterfield to be the best superwarrior genius ... ever.
BUTTERFIELD: Will I be the best superwarrior genius ever?
FORD: Yes.
KINGSLEY: Since I'm literally wearing the name "Rackham" on my shirt I hope the movie doesn't make too big a deal on whether or not I'm alive before my 'surprise' reveal. Hi I played the manchurian and
BUTTERFIELD: Shall we CGI our way to the generic action sci-fi movie conclusion?
posted
Interesting choice to not put OSC's name on it. I predict we'll see a lot of this attempt to include the accolades for the book without getting into who the author actually is.
Posts: 10177 | Registered: Apr 2001
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quote:Originally posted by MrSquicky: Yeah, I'm hoping it is just the trailer.
But, you've got to really wonder if they get the book when they put a huge spoiler in the trailer and make it look like an "America, heck yeah!" moment, instead of the action of a beyond exhausted, broken little kid who can't take any more.
Trailers are designed to appeal to the largest common denominator. As a means to get people to the theater, it's probably succeeded.
As a tool to reassure me that the movie is going to be a fantastic film, it doesn't.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Samprimary: FORD: When they attacked us, there was a lot of CGI.
CGI: pyoo pyoo pyoo!
FORD: If we're going to survive, we need an Inception BWAAAAAWM.
BWAAAAWM: BWAAAAAWM.
FORD: Thank you.
CGI: pyoo pyoo pyoo!
FORD: We will .. need ... for Asa Butterfield to be the best superwarrior genius ... ever.
BUTTERFIELD: Will I be the best superwarrior genius ever?
FORD: Yes.
KINGSLEY: Since I'm literally wearing the name "Rackham" on my shirt I hope the movie doesn't make too big a deal on whether or not I'm alive before my 'surprise' reveal. Hi I played the manchurian and
BUTTERFIELD: Shall we CGI our way to the generic action sci-fi movie conclusion?
quote:Originally posted by MrSquicky: Yeah, I'm hoping it is just the trailer.
But, you've got to really wonder if they get the book when they put a huge spoiler in the trailer and make it look like an "America, heck yeah!" moment, instead of the action of a beyond exhausted, broken little kid who can't take any more.
Trailers are designed to appeal to the largest common denominator. As a means to get people to the theater, it's probably succeeded.
As a tool to reassure me that the movie is going to be a fantastic film, it doesn't.
I agree with you, BlackBlade.
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quote:Originally posted by Samprimary: FORD: When they attacked us, there was a lot of CGI.
CGI: pyoo pyoo pyoo!
FORD: If we're going to survive, we need an Inception BWAAAAAWM.
BWAAAAWM: BWAAAAAWM.
FORD: Thank you.
CGI: pyoo pyoo pyoo!
FORD: We will .. need ... for Asa Butterfield to be the best superwarrior genius ... ever.
BUTTERFIELD: Will I be the best superwarrior genius ever?
FORD: Yes.
KINGSLEY: Since I'm literally wearing the name "Rackham" on my shirt I hope the movie doesn't make too big a deal on whether or not I'm alive before my 'surprise' reveal. Hi I played the manchurian and
BUTTERFIELD: Shall we CGI our way to the generic action sci-fi movie conclusion?
FORD: With pleasure.
CGI: pyoo pyoo pyoo!
I think you should write screenplays for Micheal Bay.
Posts: 2302 | Registered: Aug 2008
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posted
Yeah, they Michael Bay'd the hell out of that trailer. But trailers rarely say much about how a movie actually plays out. As for spoilers - you know they're spoilers because you read the book. The average movie goer who hasn't is just gonna see the doctor in action and go "what the...?"
I'm still pretty excited. In fact, Ford's voice over was the most off-putting thing about it to me.
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posted
Wow, that was awful, for the all the reasons stated already.
Every time I see a trailer that is about how one person is going to save us all from the aliens, I just roll my eyes. And the Ender's Game trailer fell into this mold and failed to differentiate itself from every other movie that I can't name because they are all the same. And I never saw them.
Posts: 1757 | Registered: Oct 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Aros: One of us is trolling. That's a correct statement.
Good. It's you. you've been acting pretty trollish ever since your thread deletion spree and your open statement that you're going to 'teach the forums a lesson' — and it's not invisible to people that you've been taking potshots at me here. for now, i'm just going to opt not to bite, even if you keep attacking me.
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posted
What I like about this is that the previous discussion I managed to invoke (heavily enough for pages of discussion) brought forth a persistent argument in favor of casting decisions which were more "bankable" rather than using more courageous and authentic options. And now, there's a sort of irony in that the trailer just threw everyone here a heavy indication that the movie has — not just in casting but in every conceivable way — taken the source work and tortured it through the most broadly marketable, generic and non-courageous, safe and "bankable," formulaic action blockbuster treatment possible.
When they went into making this movie, much like all the other false starts the movie had, there was a pronounced concern and a consistent theme of people here and elsewhere engaging in ameliorative talk about OSC's creative control, how he was hopefully not going to allow this movie to be watered down into a generic blockbuster instead of demanding they make something that used the strengths of the story, make the movie emphasize and draw most heavily from the psychological elements of the book which were great and which would allow the movie to be great.
But we just saw a trailer for a painfully generic blockbuster action film, with absolutely zero emphasis on what or who Ender is other than a generic young Last Hope Youth Wunderkind. If the trailer is any indication (hint: unless the producers are pulling an unprecedented fakeout, it is) then we know which route they have taken. You wanted the bankable option? You obviously have it.
quote:Originally posted by theamazeeaz: Wow, that was awful, for the all the reasons stated already.
Every time I see a trailer that is about how one person is going to save us all from the aliens, I just roll my eyes. And the Ender's Game trailer fell into this mold and failed to differentiate itself from every other movie that I can't name because they are all the same. And I never saw them.
Yeah, but a lot of people did. That's the advantage of the faustian bargain of Blockbusterizing a source work. Do it with the exact sort of pablum competency which is required and pay a lot of people a lot of money to put in a lot of flashy visuals, and you got bank.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
asa sees the reaction to the trailer, chimes in on reddit
quote:Hey there, Asa Butterfield here (Ender) Proof: http://twitter.com/asabfb/status/331884661389271040/photo/1 I don't think there is a need to do a dedicated AMA post so I guess I can just answer some questions here. Firstly I'd like to say that if you have any fears of this film being all 'Hollywood', I can say that there is no need to be scared. The heart and soul of the story are as much a part of the film as they were in the book. Enders 'inner struggles' (yes I'm looking at you bugpoker) are still key in the film. Once again, AMA! Edit: it appears the people want me to do a proper AMA. So I will! In the morning. G'night.
so asa will be up on reddit soon
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
>If the trailer is any indication (hint: unless the producers are pulling an unprecedented fakeout, it is) then we know which route they have taken
Honestly, while I think the movie IS most likely a pretty generic blockbuster (because that's what most movies like this turn out to be), the trailer is also basically zero evidence for it one way or another, because trailers basically have to look like this now - it's the rule or something.
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posted
Trailers are habituating like that, but they've become abnormally consistent in showing the elements that the movie is prioritizing, and it's pretty consistent that you can guess what story and tone elements are going to be the most important in an adaptation by watching trailers.
Caveat, though: extended trailers add a lot to that. This may just be the Action Trailer and there's more extended trailers which will feature something else, like maybe some angsty overlayed dialogue with Ender. Something like "I don't know if I can handle this ;_;" or "Sometimes I'm not sure if I'm doing the right thing ;_;" and supporting characters (female usually) giving supportive talk like "you have to be strong don't you know what's at stake!" or "you can't let them get to you!" and maybe it'll cut to similar overlayed dialogue with battle school crew going "YOU JUST CAN'T PUSH THEM LIKE THIS" and some heavy moody thrums and
hm
maybe i should stop watching movie trailers altogether.
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I just think you're being way too fanboyish about the whole thing. And you seem to be taking the whole thing rather emotionally, down to the slightest minutiae. Yes, I'm often too dismissive. But you're coming off as a little . . . obsessive. You even admitted it in your post.
Dial it back a notch, brother.
Posts: 1204 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
Brother buddy pal chum tiger, if you think i'm fanboyish about this movie or are taking it 'too emotionally' that the trailer is a study in generic blockbusterification, I can't help you. I'm already compromised in that this is proving that I'm really bad at not taking your bait. Mix things up and stop talking about or to me, thanks.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
You know, I'm not sure 'fanboy' is a term that really fits well with being really interested in and enjoying a story such as Ender's Game. For me the term has a connotation reserved for strong liking of something that's, if not necessarily shallow, also not especially deep either.
For example, I'd call myself a Skyrim fanboy and think it was fair. Or a Choose Your Own Adventure fanboy. Or a Whose Line fanboy. But although I would self-describe my liking for the following other things, I wouldn't say that fanboy fits: Julia Child cooking shows, Lord of the Rings, To Kill a Mockingbird, Twelve Angry Men, Heavy Rain, the list could continue.
I'd put Ender's Game in the latter list-I've read that story cover to cover at least six times, and in full probably ten or more in the last...twenty years? It would be an understatement to say that I'm passionate aboit and appreciative of the story. It's got some weight to it.
So if the film does in fact take the story and 'splosion it up with a bunch of meaningful grim-faced emotional shots instead of the deeply meaningful examination about what it means to feel alone and pushed and wanting to do good but unable, a peek into the mental suffering of war, then I really don't think-and this is just my connotation of the word-that being upset about it is a sign of a fanboy.
Particularly not in this case where the word is almost certainly used as a mere insult in service to a preexisting grudge.
Posts: 17164 | Registered: Jun 2001
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posted
FWIW, the book cover of the original paperback is pretty horrible itself.
I saw a few other things, and those are what make me think it could be good. The scene with Valentine. The scene with Anderson.
I think some people are forgetting that this is a movie full of technological WOW sci fi. It gets absorbed in the story of Ender and what is going on in his head. But it is all there. What are they going to play up?
The first part of the trailer WAS edited badly, though. It sounds like a normal conversation speed, so I suspect his words were lifted from a scene. I wish they'd rerecorded him for the trailer.
I also watched most of the Google hangout as well, till I had to leave. It gives me hope. And makes me sad that Card's name wasn't mentioned at all, but I see the strategy.
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The Formic ships are great. The way they swarm and the exotic alien design are a fantastic transposition of the book's sparse descriptions.
As for the shots of the Second Invasion, I don't expect that to play a huge part in the movie. My guess is that those shots will be shown at the beginning of the movie to establish the stakes, and then a cut away will show that they were part of IF propaganda reels.
Harrison Ford's voiceover sounds pretty phoned-in, and Asa sounds way older than 12. I will just have to accept that the characters are teens going into the movie, but I at least hope Ford will make up for the lackluster trailer voiceover with a nuanced and compelling Graff. His recent roles, even if they were in mediocre films, show that he can still act.
There are a couple of shots (one of which is at 1:08) that might be Eros, but don't really look like an asteroid, what with the cloud cover. What the heck is that place supposed to be?
The Battle Room looks great, but I'm worried that since the Earth is visible through the glass it will invite viewers to think of it as down, rather than the enemy's gate. As long as the camera doesn't stay in one orientation and doesn't always show the Earth as below, hopefully that won't be a problem.
The trailer does not spoil anything really meaningful. Yes, it was a bit of an epiphany in the book that Mazer was still alive, but we all know what the real plot twist is and we don't see that get spoiled.
Lots of CGI. LOTS of CGI. Looks pretty, but I hope the visual effects don't take priority over the emotional spirit of the story. Having just come off of a May the Fourth Star Wars marathon, the CGI looks a lot better now than sci-fi effects did 10 years ago. I do appreciate that they used a lot of practical effects; the Battle Room scenes are all done with real wire-work.
The simulator Ender uses in Command School appears to be a big hologram chamber with gesture-based and voice controls. Not exactly how I envisioned it, but I guess it makes sense for as visual a medium as film. I wonder how they'll show him talking to his toon leaders in those battles (Bean and Petra et al are going to be in those scenes, right?)
By far the most worrisome thing about the trailer is the end where Ender shouts "Now!" and there's a huge explosion. Not because it spoils the ending, but because the tone of that scene is supposed to be very different from the swashbuckling resolve we see. How they handle the final battle and the moments after that is critical to the success of the movie in my eyes.
Then again, that part of the trailer might actually be there to deceive audiences so that the real plot twist has its full effect. People will come into the theater expecting a popcorn space flick and find that the climactic moment that they saw in the trailer is actually much more emotionally complex than expected.
The trailer, interestingly, neither made me more nor less excited for the movie. There's nothing in it to get outraged about, but there's nothing making me wet with glee besides the fact that the Ender's Game movie that I've been wanting for over a decade is finally coming.
Posts: 1029 | Registered: Apr 2007
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posted
Also, I think the use of the Little Doctor we see is probably at the very start of the war. The formics don't know we have it yet, and are hiding in the asteroid field.
It isn't actually firing on the planet at all.
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posted
The movie looks bad, but Butterfield's performance could save it any way (it won't). And at least I;m definitely not going to be bored while watching it.
curious to see Stanefield's Petra.
Posts: 1407 | Registered: Oct 2008
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posted
The big "Now!" explosion could certainly be a spoiler, but I figured it's a totally different incident. It could be some other weapon that Ender is being trained to use in a simulation.
Refresh my memory. The Little Doctor was essentially a kind of missile, which had to be launched from a ship that was near enough to a planet's surface to work. Correct? The trailer is showing a death beam fired from a seemingly safe distance. I feel like the teaser is faking out people who have read it. "Why would they spoil the ending? Grumblegrumble." But it's not the ending at all. It's part of some training montage or the like.
Purely a guess.
And apparently Asa Butterfield will be doing an AMA(Ask Me Anything) tomorrow morning on reddit.
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posted
Had to be launched at something with mass. The more mass, the more of a knock-on effect it had.
Posts: 7021 | Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
already calling it, it's a quote where something 'frustrates,' 'annoys,' or 'drives her crazy.'
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
This trailer means absolutely nothing. I've seen footage used in trailers that was cut from the movie, alternative takes and utterly mangled timeline to represent something the -advertisers- wanted to put out there that the film didn't even have.
Remember folks, the people who made this trailer did not work on the movie, they work for the production company, and their sole job is to take whatever original, nuanced creation that comes across their desk and bland it down to the lowest common denominator. Boom! Bam! Flashy!
It is a bit upsetting to see a planet blowing up in the trailer, but considering the utter lack of really real explosions in the story, it's hardly surprising.
The only thing this trailer tells me is there will be more, better, deeper trailers coming out soon, because this trailer is the widest, mass appeal net they will cast.
quote:Originally posted by MrSquicky: Yeah, I'm hoping it is just the trailer.
But, you've got to really wonder if they get the book when they put a huge spoiler in the trailer and make it look like an "America, heck yeah!" moment, instead of the action of a beyond exhausted, broken little kid who can't take any more.
Those two shots could have been cut together arbitrarily. This is not very meaningful.
Having said that, the trailer sucks.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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posted
Three things that bug the crap out of me now with movies:
1. Lens flares 2. Inception low brass tones (BWAAAAAAAAA), so annoying 3. Minority Report air manipulation of computer display
I'll go watch it in the theater, but I'm less excited about this movie than I was yesterday before the trailer came out.
Posts: 1766 | Registered: Feb 2006
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It shows a mean-looking River, Serenity firing lasers (!?) in a Star Wars style space battle, and a tough looking Zoe and Mal fighting off a horde (!?) of zombie (!?) reavers. It's intended to grab the attention of as many people as possible.
I wouldn't be surprised if much of the Ford's monologue doesn't even end up being a part of the film as is. Perhaps they recorded it right for the trailer? It does sound like the forced voice over narrative for Blade Runner, which IIRC he made to sound dull in protest.
Posts: 1711 | Registered: Jun 2004
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quote:Originally posted by brojack17: Three things that bug the crap out of me now with movies:
1. Lens flares 2. Inception low brass tones (BWAAAAAAAAA), so annoying 3. Minority Report air manipulation of computer display
4. Shaky-cam 5. Those annoying flashy-strobe light cuts between extreme closeups of someone's face (or eyes) and a battle 6. You know what? Extreme closeups of someone's face in general. Especially when that face metamorphoses Lord of the Rings-style into a CGI hell-demon. 7. Exploding title cards
Posts: 1029 | Registered: Apr 2007
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quote:Originally posted by Stone_Wolf_: This trailer means absolutely nothing. I've seen footage used in trailers that was cut from the movie, alternative takes and utterly mangled timeline to represent something the -advertisers- wanted to put out there that the film didn't even have.
Remember folks, the people who made this trailer did not work on the movie, they work for the production company, and their sole job is to take whatever original, nuanced creation that comes across their desk and bland it down to the lowest common denominator. Boom! Bam! Flashy!
It is a bit upsetting to see a planet blowing up in the trailer, but considering the utter lack of really real explosions in the story, it's hardly surprising.
The only thing this trailer tells me is there will be more, better, deeper trailers coming out soon, because this trailer is the widest, mass appeal net they will cast.
I pretty much agree with this.
Posts: 6026 | Registered: Dec 2004
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quote:Originally posted by scifibum: Synesthesia was quoted on Salon.com
what. link.
I don't want to link it because it's a really harsh treatment of OSC, and I think it would be impolite to link to it from a site he pays for.
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