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Saw the movie John Carter

L

Lionheart

SOH-CM-2014
Hey guys,

I saw the movie 'John Carter' last night. It was at Walmart, picked it up.

I have seen the trailers and they looked far out. I have heard countless stories of how it was a wreck at the box-office, cut downs by critics.

Well, I sat down, put in the DVD, and watched it and I LOVED IT!!!

Sort of like a mix between Stargate, Avatar, and Cowboys and Aliens..... Some fantastic flying vehicles that use light based energy plates. Those ships were brilliant. The CGI was amazing.


So... 10 out of 10 for me. I cant believe it failed in the box offices...




Bill
 
The reviewers all throught it was great as well but for some reason it was a flop at the box office here in the US. Hopefully Disney does better than will break even in the long run. It was a sound subject based on the books by Edgar Rice Burroughs (created the Tarzan character as well) and Disney doesn't put money behind junk. Maybe they should have called it "The Medallion" or something?
:ernae:
 
I agree that they could have picked a better name. A big fan of the books would know who John Carter is, but the producers need to appeal to a wider audience to make the big bucks.
 
I never heard of it, must not have gotten much advertising.

But I sure know about "Promethius". I can't begin to total up the ads I have seen for it.
 
Lionheart said:
Hey guys,

Bill
Click to expand...

Check out the books, beginning with A Princess of Mars, LH. They had to make some changes for the movie, which were forgiveable, but the books, written in the 1930s are great. The movie really captured the world of Mars that Burroughs detailed in the books. There were a few "in" lines in the movie for those that have read the books. I don't think Disney did a very good job of marketing the movie and the critics panned it badly. I saw it twice, 3D version and regular version, and the audiences that I saw it with were clapping at the end. My wife, who hasn't read any of the books and was only going on my pre-viewing synopsis, loved it.

Again, check the 1st book of the 11 book series out....it's a great read and different than the movie in plot! Be sure to read the foreward/introduction as it sets the tone for each book.
 
I absolutely loved it, refreshing sci fi, great stuff..
..and Lynn Collins (Dejah Toris) an absolute BABE!

Prowler
 
Lionheart said:
Hey guys,

I saw the movie 'John Carter' last night. It was at Walmart, picked it up.

I have seen the trailers and they looked far out. I have heard countless stories of how it was a wreck at the box-office, cut downs by critics.

Well, I sat down, put in the DVD, and watched it and I LOVED IT!!!

Sort of like a mix between Stargate, Avatar, and Cowboys and Aliens..... Some fantastic flying vehicles that use light based energy plates. Those ships were brilliant. The CGI was amazing.


So... 10 out of 10 for me. I cant believe it failed in the box offices...




Bill
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm picky.
I know..."Red Tails!" rant last time around...

But I got the BluRay 3D version and absolutely loved it too, Bill.
Funny, I was just thinking last night of sending you a PM about it.
I know you are a science fiction fan, glad you got it.

"Disney" marketing really failed this movie big time IMHO.
Fans seem to like it, most rate it double in score what the critics did on some movie review sites.
I thought it has a real classic movie feel to it.
Sometimes the plot and writing could be a bit more polished.
But bottomline, it is a lot of fun to watch and enteraining, especially in 3D.

"Virginia!" :icon_lol:

Sounds like the sequel is on the bubble though (and not strongly so).
It didn't make mega-bucks to automatically green light the next one.
Hopefully word of mouth and DVD sales might push it over the edge, and get the next movie made. :kilroy:
 
Hey Dain,

Roger that. Lets hope so.

Thanks guys for the education on this. I didnt know it was a huge book series. I must read it.


I will probably be watching it again tomorrow night. I worked late tonight, or I would have watched it again tonight, lol....


Good film. Well done.




Bill
 
Make sure the versions that you read have the introduction/forward in them. I've noticed that a couple from different publishers have omitted the 4 page
forewards in the book, there-by cutting out some of the story. If it has the foreward in them, you're good to go.
 
About 30 years ago, on a second hand market, I found a very cheap paperback called "John Carter, de prinses van Mars". As I liked the cover I bought and and after reading it, I bought several other paperbacks from this series. The books were easy reading, but became a bit predictable after a while and to be honest I only consider the first two or perhaps 3 books from this series really worth reading and the rest isn't that interesting.

When I heard Disney would make a movie, I was excited as I thought it would be a visual spectacle like the Starwars movies. Immediately after seeing the movie, I was a bit disappointed. The books just didn't meet my expectations based on the images I created in my head while reading the books years ago.
A while later I realised that the movie is actually a quite nice movie, but as in many cases, it is a disadvantage when you have read the book first.

Cheers,
Huub
 
huub vink said:
About 30 years ago, on a second hand market, I found a very cheap paperback called "John Carter, de prinses van Mars". As I liked the cover I bought and and after reading it, I bought several other paperbacks from this series. The books were easy reading, but became a bit predictable after a while and to be honest I only consider the first two or perhaps 3 books from this series really worth reading and the rest isn't that interesting.

When I heard Disney would make a movie, I was excited as I thought it would be a visual spectacle like the Starwars movies. Immediately after seeing the movie, I was a bit disappointed. The books just didn't meet my expectations based on the images I created in my head while reading the books years ago.
A while later I realised that the movie is actually a quite nice movie, but as in many cases, it is a disadvantage when you have read the book first.

Cheers,
Huub
Click to expand...

This sort of thing doesn't bother me anymore, Huub. I rarely expect a movie to be as good as the book. Movies are hampered in what they can show by time limits; books can go much deeper. There are some I like nearly as much, but the only Movie I can think of off the top of my head I liked better than the source material is Hannibal. The more I think about the book the angrier I get.

JAMES
 
You must also realize that your minds' eye is what generates your 'visuals' of what you are reading. Though a book can be well written, it is still words and not media. Your imagination must be INCREDIBLE if that movie didnt meet your expectations. The imagination is an incredible thing. Joyce Meyers calls it the 'mind lands', a world inside the mind, or perhaps a place that the mind can go to....


I remember reading one page from Walt Wittman (I hope thats his name) how he could talk about a morning, the sunlight, etc... I guess the better the writing, the more your mind see's, but you are still making the images yourself. ;)
 
When in need of transport within SOL star system to Bahr-Soom, and with the teleport device in hand, one says.......

OAK OH-HEHM WEEEEZ BAHR-SOOOOM


Watched it again... Great movie...
 
Thanks for the review Bill,I read the series years ago and when they advertised "John Carter" I knew what the movie was based off of but was hesitant because of the way Hollywood does the book to movie transition....usually not too well.It's in my Netflix queue now and I look forward to seeing it!:cool:
 
They do a pretty good job (book to movie) and the concessions that needed to be made are understandable in trying to get
a book into a little over 2 hour movie. You can also see where they were trying to make some things explainable to the audience
where the books just laid it out and that's the way it was.

If you haven't read the books prior to seeing the movie you won't come up short. If you have read the books, you'll catch some of the
"in" comments. I personally reread the books every so often as they hold up very well and are written with ERB's flair for adventure.

The overall look of Barsoom was captured nicely by the film's designers and everything rings true to form visually. It's a shame that they
couldn't have delved deeper and brought more of A Princess of Mars to the screen, but there's only so many minutes of film to work with. Personal
opinion here, A Princess of Mars would've made a better title in my mind. Let her plight become the primary vehicle for the plot and maybe they
could've worked some more bits of the book in. Just the writer in me speculating to a degree.

Still, a very enjoyable and entertaining film.
 
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