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*** Official SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

Seth Paxton

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quote:Me too, not only for his reviews, but because I got the sense he forced Ebert to think more carefully about what he was saying.
I agree with that. Ebert has the knowledge and talent, but critical thinking definitely benefits from being challenged.

Lewis, generally I walk away from his reviews thinking "what does that mean?" or at the very least "what does that mean to me?"

It's not about agreement, its about understanding where the reviewer is coming from so you can adjust their reaction to your tastes.

Because of his interest in visuals he seems to overlook other problems. I like innovative visuals also, but not at the expense of script elements. When I read one of his reviews I must guess at how successful the film is in these other areas critical to me.

At least I can adjust for the Jolie rule.
smile.gif



Back to the point of the thread. It's nice to hear both Jason and Scott give it good reviews. It's trailered as a fun adventure ride and the tone of most positive reviews seem to verify this. Maybe this will be the "fun" film that gets into the Oscar mix thanks to the innovative style.
 

Jason Seaver

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quote:It's nice to hear both Jason and Scott give it good reviews.


"Good"? Man, we're not being enthusiastic enough.
smile.gif
This is a flat-out great adventure movie that put a big, stupid grin on my face for pretty much its entire run-time. You can't do much better than this.
 

RobertR

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quote:The 2nd review was fairly positive


Only with respect to image quality. He didn't change his mind about any other aspects of the film he found poor:



"I had not heard one line of quotable, memorable dialogue."



"There is a certain lifelessness in some of the acting"



"Actors speak more slowly than they might--flatly, factually, formally, as if reciting."



"it simply shows that what they have to say is banal."



"'Attack of the Clones'" is a technological exercise that lacks juice and delight. The title is more appropriate than it should be."



None of those comments were retracted in the second review, and all of them apply to TPM. The inconsistency remains.
 

Seth Paxton

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quote:You can't do much better than this.
Thanks for setting me up for a letdown now.
wink.gif


Actually I didn't want to put words in your mouths where people would come back and say "you guys said everyone would love it and it was the best film of the year".

"Good" is a lot harder to complain about later. Sounds like a person would have to be a real stick in the mud to argue that.

Something I just thought of - did they make a mistake pushing this film back? Even if the push back was for technical changes to the coloring? Is this a chance to be another Greek Wedding or should the studio have made a real effort to hit a summer tentpole spot?
 

Jason Seaver

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quote:Something I just thought of - did they make a mistake pushing this film back? Even if the push back was for technical changes to the coloring? Is this a chance to be another Greek Wedding or should the studio have made a real effort to hit a summer tentpole spot?
I think pushing it back was probably the right call. It's a fantastic movie, but I think it will really benefit by having a clear field. In the summer, I think people would find excuses to go to something more conventional ("I don't want to see a period piece (especially an anachronistic one)", "Jude Law & Gwynneth Paltrow in an action movie?", "it uses a lot of CGI so it must suck"), but when the choices for action/adventure are this, Anacondas, and maybe seeing The Bourne Supremacy again (or Hero, but "ick, subtitles!"), I think many more people will give it a chance.

September's got a bad reputation, but this sucker should get great word of mouth and has two or three weeks until the next thing that could be considered big action movie (Ladder 49 or Taxi; quite frankly, there's no real action blockbuster on the schedule until National Treasure in mid-November).
 

TheLongshot

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Yeah, I think this film would have gotten buried in the summer, particularly since I think the weekend it was originally set for (Which was when The Chronicles of Riddick and Garfield was released, if I remember correctly) was particularly crowded. Considering some of the negative views earlier in this thread, I don't think it became "must see" in a lot of people's eyes...



Jason
 

Robert Crawford

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This thread is now designated the Official Discussion Thread for "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" please, post all comments, links to outside reviews, film and box office discussion items to this thread.

All HTF member film reviews of "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" should be posted to the Official Review Thread.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter.


Crawdaddy
 

Dave Jessup

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Fresh from a preview screening this evening; theater was 3/4 full, reaction was muted but positive.

Personally, I've now got a lot of affection for this film. Wonderful eye candy, decent story, and at it's core it's good-hearted.

In my case the publicity machine has worked well; the Best Buy sneak preview disc and the "word of mouth" screening this evening got me to post... but I believe it's worthwhile. Got a silly grin on my face, and that's a plus these days.

All best -
 

Jim Barg

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Muted but positive, indeed. Though I have to say I was expecting a tad bit more energy out of that crowd. Still, I enjoyed it a great deal, the friend I was with couldn't get past the cliched script, even though he knew it was supposed to be like that.

Looking forward to taking various family members back on Sunday afternoon...
 

Scott Weinberg

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Here's my review.

(Note: This is that "once every four months" review that I actually think is pretty good.)

I hope you all dig the flick half as much as I did. And it's the kind of movie that gets better as you sit and think back over it. ;)
 

Jim Barg

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That is a good review, Scott. And I think you hit on why this film could/should be an out-of-left-field hit: these guys care. A lot. From the Conran brothers on down to Jolie, everybody wanted to do their best. That energy's fairly evident in the film, and it translates to one fun time at the movies.
 

Lou Sytsma

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I agree, Ebert is especially erratic with the SF and Fantasy genres. He still seems to call the more mainstream and foreign movies consistently though.

In the SF and Fantasy genres he gets hung up on the strangest issues in one movie and then they don't bother him in another. His comments about Spiderman's CGI being too cartoony on the one hand and then his acceptance of it in DareDevil on the other is a prime example.

He also got hung on Gandalf being so physically spry in ROTK because he was an old man. The fact that Gandalf is a wizard didn't allay his criticism at all. Weird.
 

Michael Harris

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Well Ebert's print review gives it four stars. I guess that would be equal to a really big thumbs up :emoji_thumbsup: .

I am not suprised with is write-up especially in emphasizing the look of the film. One just has to listen to his commentary for "Dark City" to understand why the look and style of a film is so important to him.

I agree with some of the posts above that Ebert's reviews, especially of the SF and fantasy genre, can be all over the place. I'll never really accept his review of "Fellowship of the Ring" but at least he puts his reasons up front.

I'll be seeing "Sky Captain" this weekend. The last piece of summer fluff before the Oscar hunting "serious" films hit the street.

PS: A couple of years ago Microsoft had a flying game set in a retro-futuristic 1930's. Can anyone remember its name?
 

Steven Simon

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Hey Scott,

When I hit your review link, I'm taken to a Search Engine pop up site???


Waz up with that??? :angry:
 

David Forbes

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Steven,

Sounds like you've got a virus. Run whatever anti-virus software you have, and if you have Windows XP do a system restore to a previous date.

Good luck!
 

Steve_Tk

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Can someone that has seen the film explain what "a new evolution in movies" means? That is part of their marketing for the film.
 

Jason Seaver

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Probably the filming technique, where the actors worked on an empty soundstage and practically everything else was created digitally. It gave the Conrans terrific freedom and also allowed them incredible control over the look of the film.

I wish people wouldn't focus on that, because it's not really important. I think it's fully possible to love Sky Captain without knowing what a tremendous technical achievement it is.
 

Quentin

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It felt antiseptic to me. I was never totally involved or engaged. I can think of the reasons why...but, I'm going to give more careful thought before listing.



It's a fairly ok flick, and the visuals are so very much fun! But, it lacked a big something. I don't think you can help but compare it to Raiders, The Rocketeer, and/or The Shadow - all of which I think are superior.



Still, I hope they make a sequel (with a stronger story) because I loved the look and feel.
 

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