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I might catch it in the theaters a few weeks after release, or might end up catching it on RedBox or Netflix.
Trailers haven't impressed me, and have seriously lowered my expectations. Not quite as badly as the trailers for World War Z, which I was eagerly anticipating as a film and ended up skipping entirely, but in that same vein.
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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If I ignore the listless Harrison Ford voiceover from the first trailer, then it looks potentially good. I can't believe they let that slip through. Here's hoping he mustered a bit more energy for the actual performance.
Posts: 4287 | Registered: Mar 2005
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I'll wait for it to come out on video, unless people give me a good reason to do otherwise. Based on what I've seen, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be disappointed.
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edit: For me, the real killer was having a resolute, engaged Ender blowing up the Bugger's planet. Even more than the Michael Beyifying, that indicated to me that they're looking for a block buster movie, not one that stayed true to the book.
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There isn't much coming out this Fall that I really want to see. But I might go see EG as a matinee. Not paying weekend nighttime prices for it. The trailer is still a little off putting for the reasons Squicky described above. But I'll still give it a whirl.
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I am not going to lie; I definitely plan on seeing it. I may even spring for the 3D IMAX experience depending on circumstances.
Posts: 6026 | Registered: Dec 2004
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Trailers always lie, I only saw one to have a look at the film aesthetic. I'll withhold judgements until its out.
Posts: 12931 | Registered: Aug 2005
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I am curious about the IMAX - anyone know if they filmed in 70mm? How much?
And did they really make the film in 3D or convert it? I'd imagine OSC, even though he doesn't have a ton of influence, would use most of it to avoid that?
Posts: 428 | Registered: Nov 2006
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Why should I be ashamed of thinking that the trailer makes the movie look like a piece of crap?
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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The trailer I saw made the movie seem no different from any other "only our special hero can save the entire world from DOOM" movie that comes out five times a year. That's not what made Ender's Game the book interesting or compelling* to me, nor did it excite me into wanting to see the movie.
Someone (probably on Hatrack) pointed me to an interview with Asa Butterfield, who claimed the movie adaptation was fantastic. He can't say otherwise, but let's assume his judgment is sound.
I don't think there's anything wrong with stating that the trailer doesn't properly sell the story.
*The best aspect of Ender's Game is the emotional treatment of the social stresses and pressures on gifted children.
Posts: 1757 | Registered: Oct 2004
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The trailer has almost nothing to do with the movie. The shame comes from not even giving the movie a chance. If you are on this board it's safe to assume you are a fan of OSC's writing.
Risking $10 and two hours is not a lot to ask of your fan base.
quote: The trailer has almost nothing to do with the movie. The shame comes from not even giving the movie a chance.
Like I said, the trailers, besides being very Michael Bey-like, showed an engaged and resolute Ender blowing up the Bugger's homeworld in a "Heck Yeah!" moment. I get that trailers are often very different from the actual movie, but that scene is shown and the Ender portrayed in that scene is completely wrong for a movie that is trying to channel the essence of the book. This is the beginning emotional climax of Ender's Game, the book, with the finale of this climax being the revelation that it was real the whole time - which the trailer has also given away.
I think theamazeeaz said it very well:
quote:The best aspect of Ender's Game is the emotional treatment of the social stresses and pressures on gifted children.
For Ender to not be the emotionally beaten down wreck who is just trying to give up and instead be pretty much the opposite of that, means that they either didn't try for this or did it very poorly.
I'm not interested in watching Ender's Game done in the style of "Harry Potter in space!!!", which it seems to me the makers are going for. I could be wrong about that and I'm open to it, but yea, I'm not going to have the blind faith that you seem to be advocating.
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People get away with making bad movies based on famous works, especially sci-fi works, because fans of these works constantly give up this blind faith. I'm not going to feel any shame for not contributing to this.
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Um, sometimes trailers show scenes that ARENT even in the movie, or taken horribly out of context. That could have been Ender at one of the previous simulation games for example.
Posts: 12931 | Registered: Aug 2005
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I'll see it, but it seems absurd to me to insist we shouldn't expect, or that it's somehow unreasonable to be concerned about, the notion of a major Hollywood book adaptation of an intricate, powerful emotional heavy hitter that *also* features a lot of action...to make the film more about 'splosions. I won't be remotely surprised, before and after the trailer, if that happens.
Posts: 17164 | Registered: Jun 2001
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I just don't equate "seeing the movie and judging it on its own merits" and "blind faith".
Judging a two hour movie by thirty random seconds of footage put togeather by some ad exec not associated with the movie in any shape or form is judging a book by its cover. And I say less faith then is deserved by supposed fans.
quote:Originally posted by MrSquicky: Like I said, the trailers, besides being very Michael Bey-like, showed an engaged and resolute Ender blowing up the Bugger's homeworld in a "Heck Yeah!" moment. I get that trailers are often very different from the actual movie, but that scene is shown and the Ender portrayed in that scene is completely wrong for a movie that is trying to channel the essence of the book.
Do you understand how editing works? You can slap any two shots side-by-side. The point of a trailer is to get as many people as possible interested in the movie, not (for better or worse) actually accurately portray the movie.
My personal award for Most BS Trailer is Bridge to Terabithia. Let's make kids think this is a fun, magical fantasy movie... Not a drama about a boy who has to come to terms with his best friend's death.
There's no telling if Ender's Game is going to be good or bad until it's out, and at this point I could see it swinging either way. All I know is that after two decades of waiting, I have no choice but to watch it and cry myself to sleep either way...
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quote:And I say less faith then is deserved by supposed fans.
For. Shame.
I don't understand this sentiment. I am supposed to feel a sense of allegiance to any adaption of books that I'm a fan of? Because I don't.
I think you may be mistaking being a fan with being a fanboy.
Ultimately, I loved the book. I hope the movie is great. If it is, I'll probably go see it. It's just that as things stand, I think I'll be disappointed and not enjoy it much, so, unless something comes along to change my mind about that, I'll not go out of my way to see it.
Posts: 10177 | Registered: Apr 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Stone_Wolf_: I just don't equate "seeing the movie and judging it on its own merits" and "blind faith".
Judging a two hour movie by thirty random seconds of footage put togeather by some ad exec not associated with the movie in any shape or form is judging a book by its cover. And I say less faith then is deserved by supposed fans.
For. Shame.
If everybody sees every movie and judges it on its own merits, that would be handing Hollywood a blank check to make whatever crap they want. You have to do some evaluation (a lot, I would say) before you go to the theater.
Posts: 4600 | Registered: Mar 2000
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MrSqueek: I have no problem with seeking opinions to decide. However I'd say I am in no way mistaking being a fan and a fan boy. Fan boy is "I'm gunna love this movie no matter what! I just wrote a fanfic about it."
I could tell from the ads that Starship Troopers was going to blow donkies. Because no power suits. But the EG trailer is hardly conclusive.
What bugs me are the people here have declaired it is bad before seeing it and -planning NOT to see it-.
Dest: I was clearly not referring to "everyone" and "every movie".
Posts: 6683 | Registered: Jun 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Stone_Wolf_: MrSqueek: I have no problem with seeking opinions to decide. However I'd say I am in no way mistaking being a fan and a fan boy. Fan boy is "I'm gunna love this movie no matter what! I just wrote a fanfic about it."
I could tell from the ads that Starship Troopers was going to blow donkies. Because no power suits. But the EG trailer is hardly conclusive.
What bugs me are the people here have declaired it is bad before seeing it and -planning NOT to see it-.
Dest: I was clearly not referring to "everyone" and "every movie".
I don't get it. If we can't use a trailer to decide whether to see a movie or not, then how do we do it at all? Isn't that the whole point of a trailer ?
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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There are other things, but there's nothing wrong with forming expectations with what you know, and making a "decision" , although it's not necessarily final.
Posts: 1407 | Registered: Oct 2008
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I'm currently teaching this book to my 8th grade class. I've never had more engagement as a teacher. Never. I've not experienced anything quite like it.
My kids are desperate to see the movie, but one of them quite intelligently pointed out that because so much of the book takes place inside Ender's head, they don't think the movie will portray it all that well. So even this new fan (who had never read the book before starting it last week in my class) understands that this is a tough book to make a faithful adaptation of.
Still, I will see it because my students all want to and I want to be able to discuss it with them. And I'm excited, but I'm approaching it much as I did LOTR - go and look at the pretty, and remember that one of my favorite books is still intact, even if the movie isn't perfect.
But tomorrow, we are hanging enemy gates from the ceiling in my room and using our stick figures made from pipe cleaners to act out battle room scenes.
As I was leaving the school Friday a student hollered out "The Enemy's Gate is DOWN!" to me.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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It seems that the argument is that it's somehow premature to be leery of the film on the basis of the trailer, because trailers are inconclusive. But...it doesn't sound like that applies in reverse. Does someone get a 'for shame!' If they say 'this flick is gonna be awesome, can't wait!' On the basis of the trailer?
It's not a big deal and I don't mean it as an insult or anything, but this *does* smack of fanboy reasoning-critical opinions, even reserved skeptical opinions, are rejected out of hand in emotional terms.
Posts: 17164 | Registered: Jun 2001
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It is a little weird to me that the movie Hatrack has basically spent 14+ years talking about (sometimes very heatedly) is now being greeted on Hatrack mostly by "meh." I would think if any movie would get the benefit of the doubt here, this would be the one, despite a mediocre trailer.
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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Well, I'm still going to see it and I know the trailer could be misleading-in fact I wouldn't be surprised. That said, I would perhaps be *more* surprised if Hollywood didn't miss something in the transfer for such an intricate, emotional, internally driven story as EG.
Posts: 17164 | Registered: Jun 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Rakeesh: Well, I'm still going to see it and I know the trailer could be misleading-in fact I wouldn't be surprised. That said, I would perhaps be *more* surprised if Hollywood didn't miss something in the transfer for such an intricate, emotional, internally driven story as EG.
Yeah this is pretty much how I feel.
I'm kind of excited to see it just because of what it is, but the trailers I've seen are dampening that excitement.
I know they have to market it to a wider audience, but, eek.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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what's going on here is simple beyond explanation. movie's not out, people have nothing more in-depth to analyze as they wait for this thing to hit advance critic screenings (and if they don't advance screen this thing, lol forever.) so people are picking the trailers to death.
and even if they aren't, the trailers are not going to inspire any weary moviegoer. Not just because they're imo kind of bad trailers (they're kind of crappy and Ford's voiceover seems remarkably phoned in) but more that they're absurdly generic, like they just went full blown made by numbers, or just noodled over to hollywood's version of Ikea and bought "TRÄILOR" and assembled it in a whole paint-by-numbers thing.
no jokes, it is devoutly paced in the tired Inception format (bwawwwmmm hits included) with flashy flash flash shots that flash in and out and flash to black and flash flash, and — as I poked at before — the ENTIRE thing is rigidly running the blue/orange heat motif, and they're really obviously selling this as a hard action cgi-fest, complete with a shot they probably hunted forever for that implies to trailer audiences a love interest arc for Ender.
So people are really meh because the trailer pings all their meh centers and also makes people wonder if the way they are blatantly and obviously selling the movie in the trailers is likely indicative of their priorities in how they wrote, designed, and filmed the movie. it is for that reason that I anticipate great use of the words "rushed" or "fast" or "forced" in describing the movie's pace and tone unless the trailers really were a total fakeout after all.
oh and also people's expectations of the movie often show how people are using this event or their interepretation of the trailers as something as a mental canvas for their disillusion, distaste, or loyalty to the author, so there's that
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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Movies are expensive. Not just the ticket price - but the time spent arranging for babysitters, the time in the theater itself, etc, etc.
We have become very selective of what movies we will actually see in a theater. They have to be pictures that *demand* to be seen on the big screen - that would lose a lot if seen on the "smaller" 65" screen in our home. Gravity, Pacific Rim, etc.
The only ways to discern these movies from the rest are trailers and reviews (either published or by friends). If the trailer knocks our socks off, we'll consider making a point of seeing a movie during its opening week... if it doesn't, we'll wait to hear reviews and maybe catch it in the theater a few weeks later.
Otherwise, we'll catch it on RedBox or Roku... or put our names on the waiting list for the library copy.
Ender's Game is a great book that I've read many times - and the trailer has left me entirely flat. Given that, it's a "wait and see" for me.
Life is more important than wasting money and time on mediocre movies - and I'm not ashamed of being selective based on trailers and reviews of where to spend that time and money.
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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Yeah, the trailers don't do anything for me. There's absolutely no soul in them. Maybe the formics put them together? They give away nothing about Ender's story. I would like to have seen a trailer about Ender and Bean in the Battle Room at least, and forget about the space battles at the end. There were some huge opportunities missed in the making of these trailers.
The film clip is pretty good, though, IMO, giving me hope that the trailers are indeed a bit deceptive about the pace of the action in the movie and what (I hope) is central in the story, i.e. Ender training his jeesh.
We don't go see many movies in the theater either, for the same reason--it costs a buttload for tix and a babysitter, and usually the movie is something we'd enjoy just as much at home. But we do go to the ones we're really excited about regardless of what they look like beforehand. For Ender's Game, I have absolutely no intention of waiting to see what everyone else thinks first. I want to judge for myself and then be able to be part of the conversation about it. If it's crap, I don't want to hear it from anyone else first. It's a movie I've anticipated for a long time and I feel, however absurdly, that I have something of a stake in its outcome.
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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Off the top of my head. They pronounced Bonzo incorrectly. They make a specific point in the book of saying it's Bone-so not bahn-zo.
Dragon army never won a third of their matches, not zero.
And Ford's Graff is just a little...flat. Graff always seemed a bit closer to Clooney than Bord. He's a little sassy, he's genuinely invested and emotional.
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