Ender's Game (2013) (1 Viewer)

[mattCR]

Lionsgate just released a statement about Orson Scott Card's views on same-sex marriageersonally, I don't see the point. It comes across as a big "fuck you" to author of the source material, but I don't think it's going to change the minds of anybody that's offended by Card's views.

I understand the fury, but if I avoided films by actors or directors who do and support things I don't like, I would watch very few films... let alone an author of the source material.

 

[DaveF]

I willfully ignore news and commentary on OSC's political views. I like his books, and don't want my enjoyment ruined from unrelated nonsense. I've only got energy for so many 5 minute hates, and OSC doesn't rank that high

 

[Edwin-S]

I saw that still shot of the cafeteria scene and my first thought was, "OMG, are Hollywood film makers incapable of making a military SF film that doesn't look like a clone of Starship Troopers?"I am not hopeful for this movie. Hollywood is incapable of making good SF films. I am expecting this film to prove the point. I will be pleasantly surprised if this film doesn't. The ages of the characters in this film is already strike one.

 

[Edwin-S]

Ha ha. I love the free countries we live in. Now if a person doesn't support gay marriage they should have the decency to get in the closet or sign up for the nearest re-education camp. Outstanding. Free speech and democracy for all....just as long as you agree with the currently popular view.

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

Ha ha. I love the free countries we live in. Now if a person doesn't support gay marriage they should have the decency to get in the closet or sign up for the nearest re-education camp. Outstanding. Free speech and democracy for all....just as long as you agree with the currently popular view.

This shows a fundamental misreading of what's actually going on. This isn't the space to correct you so I will move on but I recommend at least researching the issue a little deeper.Personally I am conflicted. I'd like to see this movie but also don't want any of my money to end up in OSC's pocket any kind of way and have it fund what I actively fight against.

 

[Edwin-S]

It seems completely simple to me, but you are right I won't go into it any further. The only other thing I will say is that he was an idiot to talk about "bringing down the government". All he has succeeded in doing with that rhetoric is to get himself put on an NSA watch list. They are probably reading his mail right now.

I respect your conflicting feelings about going to see this movie, because I feel the exact same way about "The Wolf of Wall Street". The movie looks like it could be very good, but I do not want to see my dollars going into the pocket of a low-life, ex-thief and conman, who got no more time for stealing 200,000,000 dollars than someone might get for stealing 100 dollars in a convenience store robbery.

Edit: I would like to add that I have been hanging out on a site that is mostly made up of younger people. Judging by comments I have read regarding gay rights, I would have to say that OSC has probably damaged this film's box office potential, regardless of Lionsgate's attempts at damage control.

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

I respect your conflicting feelings about going to see this movie, because I feel the exact same way about "The Wolf of Wall Street". The movie looks like it could be very good, but I do not want to see my dollars going into the pocket of a low-life, ex-thief and conman, who got no more time for stealing 200,000,000 dollars than someone might get for stealing 100 dollars in a convenience store robbery.

Edit: I would like to add that I have been hanging out on a site that is mostly made up of younger people. Judging by comments I have read regarding gay rights, I would have to say that OSC has probably damaged this film's box office potential, regardless of Lionsgate's attempts at damage control.

I wasn't aware of the situation behind Wolf of Wall Street...I need to look in to that...I appreciate the heads up.

 

[Scott-S]

Don't punish all the people who worked hard on making this movie just because 1 person in the group might be a jerk.

I am looking forward to this movie even if I don't agree with some of OSC's views. There is nothing in the book that suggests any of his feelings on the topic in this discussion and I would hope there is none in the movie.

 

[Afiger]

I don't understand about the Press Relase on his stance on gay rights either. The movie is going to be a movie, it has nothing to do with the author's opinions. I did read that a lot of people plan on protesting the film though because of this. Frankly I don't care about his opinion, if I want to see the movie it is because of the story, not because of an opinion.

 

[Brandon Conway]

Maybe the film won't be what everyone wants, but you can certainly see the passion that Hood and Orci have for the project in this interview. As far as I'm concerned the choices they've made are seemingly the right ones for the right reasons, and the movie appears to be done as best as one could realistically expect from a production/concept standpoint as an adaptation.

http://www.ign.com/videos/2013/10/21/extended-enders-game-interview

 

[mattCR]

So far the early reviews are pretty positive. It's good news when they put out a film to critics this early, it means the studio thinks that it's worth the effort. Rotten Tomatoes has it at 77% last I checked, not bad thus far

 

[Edwin-S]

Well, I hope the movie is better than the trailer was. The guy playing Ender didn't sound too convincing to me.

 

[Brandon Conway]

Even most of the negative reviews highlight Butterfield's performance as one of the films strengths, so I'm not too worried there.Sent from my VS920 4G using Tapatalk

 

[Edwin-S]

Even most of the negative reviews highlight Butterfield's performance as one of the films strengths, so I'm not too worried there.Sent from my VS920 4G using Tapatalk

He seemed kind of flat in the trailer, but I have to admit that definitely can't be used as a gauge for the whole movie. I hope I can manage to see it before it leaves the theatre and that it doesn't disappoint.

 

[Edwin-S]

So far the early reviews are pretty positive. It's good news when they put out a film to critics this early, it means the studio thinks that it's worth the effort. Rotten Tomatoes has it at 77% last I checked, not bad thus far

77%? So good, but not knocking it out of the ballpark great.

 

[mattCR]

77%? So good, but not knocking it out of the ballpark great.

it faces an uphill climb. Few top reviewers yet, and more then one of the negatives specifically list political differences with Card.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Okay, so I am a big fan of the Ender/Bean books, so I'm probably a bit biased in wanting to see an "Ender's Game" movie.

So, that is what I did tonight. Asa Butterfield's performance is pretty solid, and Harrison Ford's turn as Graff is also fine. There's a lot of territory to cover from the book, so the screenplay did its best to present the situation, the threat and the conclusion of "Ender's Game". What we got was a good effort, though the inter-personal characterizations from the book was a bit lacking, and the plot progression is a little clumsy at times, but I still enjoyed the film overall. I got a big kick out of seeing some of the sequences that I had imagined from the book (over 15 years ago) now on the big screen, and it pushed the story along well.

I give it 3 stars, or a grade of B.

 

[mattCR]

I'm in about the same boat. Huge fan of the book, and so I was eager - and a bit worried - to see this make the jump to film. Let me say, out of all the offerings out there (audiobook, written book, film) I still think the unabridged AudioBook is probably the best presentation this will ever have.That said, there are a few things I really liked about this film1) a great introduction and handling of characters, especially flash backs to the first Bugger invasion, which I thought looked fantastic(2) The scene with Bonzo was incredibly well done, I had worried they'd go soft on this and they didn't.. while it's left up for interpretation in the film, I thought it was pretty clear what happened. It was obvious they couldn't do it exactly as the book for ratings and also because it wouldn't be easy to understand on film, but this was easy to understand and I thought well done.(3) The battle room was presented in a way that I thought was pretty mindbending.. and it worked. Completely worked. One of the more original, unique effects I've seen in a while.(4) In a moment not from the book, but I thought great, Mazer explaining that his tattoos were a tribal way to remember his father who was always with him, to allow him to 'speak for the dead'. I thought that was a great tip of the hat for fans of the book and it worked.Finally, this is where I really appreciated this film: one of my concerns was that they would end fairly quickly after the final beat; I love that the film instead leaves the battle for the confrontation between Ender & Graff, in something that isn't on the page but manages to effectively convey a lot of the internal dialogue of Ender in the book and get across the key points of the book - that how we win is as important as winning itself, and undertaking this may have been wrong from the beginning. I thought it was effective and fantastic.What I didn't care for1) This film feels very rushed. That's a bit because the book is dense, but damn do we whip through combat school in a hurry.(2) I wasn't a fan of introducing Bean in the first shuttle launch. It compresses things a bit too much; had he been introduced just a few beats later I thought it would have been more effective.(3) I disliked them changing Ender's name to Andrew Ender Wiggin. It undoes why his nickname came about; so having the first quotes from AE Wiggin was kind of 'eh'.The last one is a big spoiler, so..

Spoiler

I dislike that at the end, Ender zips on off his own without Valentine along with him.. it upsets the setup of all future books, but if this is the only one that gets made; and I'm betting so because I can't imagine a film version of any of the remaining ones, then it's OK

All in all, this was a crafty presentation that managed to do more then I thought it would/could.B+

 

[Edwin-S]

it faces an uphill climb. Few top reviewers yet, and more then one of the negatives specifically list political differences with Card.

I was expecting his political stance to affect this film. It appears that it is having an effect. I'd say that was unfortunate, but I would be being a hypocrite since I have reservations about supporting The Wolf of Wall Street.Damn, 11 days before I can see this film.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Yeah, I don't know if the film's running time could have been lengthened for the battelschool relationships to form organically and give weight to the how the ending affects not only Ender, but his crew too. But, at least it was pretty engaging, my audience was totally into the film due to its pacing, which was brisk, when it could have stood to have some scenes to flesh out the characters more and let the film breathe, but the urgency and danger of the situation was what was propelling the plot forward.