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American Gods will premiere on April 30th on Starz [Up: New trailer!]

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R

Rimon-hanit

Member
Holy fuck, I just realized how much political nonsense is going to be projected on this series if it's going to take off like I think it will.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
A bunch of new posters in a Buzzfeed preview article:

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There's a few more via the link.
 
T

TheOddOne

Member
Reviews are coming in.

- A|V Club Review: American Gods tells a timely story about immigration, war, and dangerous con men.
Fuller and Green, who also wrote the four episodes available for review, take us on a mostly smooth ride in the first half of American Gods. Even where there’s table setting, it’s done with panache, as in the checkers match from the book that also plays out as a fanciful riff on The Seventh Seal (it doesn’t hurt that Stormare is Swedish). They’ve blended their sensibilities, weaving a rich tapestry of whimsy, epic action, and deft characterization. Practically speaking, it will definitely tide you over until that other fantasy drama returns. But thematically, it could knock someone off their throne.
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- IndieWire: ‘American Gods’ Review: Bryan Fuller Paints a Beautiful, Bloody, and Unblinking Portrait of American Duality.
That is, when we’re not utterly lost in the stunning visual designs. Imagine the most luscious dream sequences from “Hannibal” and extend them for an entire episode: That’s the vibe of “American Gods,” as every production detail comes together to create a world we’ve never seen before. Director David Slade and cinematographer Jo Williams, who worked on the first two episodes, deserve immense credit for pulling off such a dazzling array of iconic imagery. Creating an eye-catching fiery-eyed buffalo is one thing, but finding equal inspiration from an old gravel road or rolling clouds filled with rain is quite another. “American Gods” pulls it all together to craft an American landscape filled with familiar figures, but stylized like never before.

While we’re still waiting to see if the story’s substance can match its visual splendor, there’s so much meat here, it’s hard to doubt the blood is coming — especially with Fuller wielding the cleaver.
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OT will be up next Sunday.
 
C

CHC

Member
Honestly it looks better than the book, but I've always felt that Neil Gaiman is terrifically overrated. Shadow Moon has to be probably the lamest name of, well.... almost any protagonist I can recall. But nevertheless, this show looks like something the creators really put some love into it.
 
H

hydruxo

Member
A couple more reviews

- Idobi: American Gods: [P]review the First Four

This cast, these characters, and the promise of those on their way could keep you watching by themselves. Every facet of this show could keep you watching on its own. When they're all used together with such crafty acuity you can't stop watching. At the end of Episode 4 you will gnash your teeth and petition the heavens for one more episode, just one more is all you'll claim to need...but that won't be true. Yet the gods, both old and new, will be kind. They will grant you your wish times four. Afterward, you will do the exact opposite of the title of Ep 4, rather than ”Git Gone" you'll stick around for whatever the capriciously seductive gods dish out next. Hell, you'll revel in it.

In the end: You'll soon be begging the American Gods to keep blessing your TV altar.
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- Nerdist: American Gods Will Test Your Senses Like No Show Before (Review)

Which is not to say the series is perfect: indeed, its weakest episode (of the four screened for journalists) is arguably the pilot, an oddly paced and overstuffed-in-weird-ways hour of TV that felt much longer given the sheer magnitude of its visualizations. I wanted to love it, but was ultimately frustrated (and I've read the book). Book fans will likely enjoy how fairly literal the first episode's adaptation of the text is, but it may prove a hindrance to recruiting uninitiated viewers. The pilot is a feat of Fuller-ian excess—and that's not necessarily a bad thing for those who've read the source material, but it does make for some at-times distracting imagery and play that may alienate the lay-viewer—this story is incredibly tough to synthesize, y'all. The pilot feels very Hannibal season 3 in tone and tenor, and if that's not your bag (it wasn't my favorite, though I am ride-or-die for Hannibal/Bryan Fuller), it may read as overdone. But for every moment of overdone-ness, there are at least 3 instances of stunning imagery and sweeping atmosphere perfection.

And to anyone who feels dissuaded after the pilot to continue, I will simply say this: keep going. Stick with it. Episodes three and four are particular highlights in terms of storytelling strength, and—we promise—ultimately inform the understanding of just what in the heck happened in the episodes prior. Plus: it just gets fun. American Gods, like America, is still in its infancy in the grand scheme of things. It is wholly worth your worship this TV season. We don't want to try and predict the future, but it's sure to be one of the best of 2017.
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- TVLine: American Gods Review: Strong Cast, High Style Make Drama a Divine Delight

Viewers who are familiar with the work, however, will be happy to know that the novel's interstitial segments — which offer snapshots of gods at work in the lives of ordinary people — not only have survived the adaptation but provide some of the richest moments in the first part of the season. The one that sticks with me the most is the meeting of a struggling salesman from Oman and a jinn taxi driver, which is acted and shot with simple sensuality and could stand alone as a one-act play. The interlude is a prime example of why the marriage of Fuller and Green's sensibilities and Gaiman's prose is a holy thing, indeed.
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V

Vampirolol

Member
I hope that they will actually manage to improve the story, since I felt like some things were underdeveloped in the book. The fact that they are derailing from it sounds cool to me... I just hope that this isn't another Preacher.
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Vampirolol said:
I hope that they will actually manage to improve the story, since I felt like some things were underdeveloped in the book. The fact that they are derailing from it sounds cool to me... I just hope that this isn't another Preacher.
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After seeing how Fuller expanded upon and remixed the books for Hannibal, I trust he can do the same just fine with this. Another Preacher is the last thing I'm expecting here
 
C

Cornballer

Member
- Deadline review
Starz’s cunning adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s novel American Gods may be the most ambitious and successful series the premium cabler has launched since it hit the reset button a few years back.

The eight-episode series executive produced by Bryan Fuller and Michael Green that debuts April 30 is do-not-miss television lived large on the big-picture topics and themes of our time as old-world deities and new-world manifestations spar and war across the American cultural tundra.
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H

hydruxo

Member
Ithil said:
Should I read the book before the show comes out, or read it after watching this season's adaptation?
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I'd say go ahead and read it if you have the time. It's a great book and it'll give you some nice background on the gods. Also, season one will only consist of the first third of the book + whatever new stuff they've added for the show.
 
S

Saren is Bad

Member
I'm like half way through the book and struggling. Does it ever pick up? There are pockets that are interesting with the gods, and then long stretches of monotony
 
J

JeffZero

Purple Drazi
I'm mildly nonsensically bitter that Fuller left Star Trek to focus 100% this, but I'm not quite stuck-up enough to let that stop me from watching. >_>;

Looking forward to it.
 
J

jph139

Member
Saren is Bad said:
I'm like half way through the book and struggling. Does it ever pick up? There are pockets that are interesting with the gods, and then long stretches of monotony
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The book is mostly just quality prose and cool ideas. The actual plot doesn't really go anywhere or do anything - if you're not enjoying it by the halfway mark, you probably never will.
 
D

Darth Pinche

Member
jph139 said:
The book is mostly just quality prose and cool ideas. The actual plot doesn't really go anywhere or do anything - if you're not enjoying it by the halfway mark, you probably never will.
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I'm at the same place, halfway and while I have enjoyed it, It does not grab me to finish it. I am very interested in the series though.
 
T

TB14

Member
Discotheque said:
absolutely not. Silence of the Lambs is still king by a large margin.

he definitely did a better job than I expected though seeing as it was NBC and he had to follow up a hannibal after Cox and then Hopkins iconic performance.

dude brings cool visual style to his shows, this looks cool.
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As much as I love SotL, in my opinion Hannibal is better in every way. Not sure that's it's my favorite TV show ever, but it's definitely up there. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to seeing what Fuller does here.
 
E

EGM1966

Member
Saren is Bad said:
I'm like half way through the book and struggling. Does it ever pick up? There are pockets that are interesting with the gods, and then long stretches of monotony
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Final stretch it picks up a bit but as a novel it's definitely too meandering. Well written and interesting vignettes but wayward structurally. I feel his long form written work often suffers from this.

I think TV structure may well suit it better.

EDIT: speaking which actually clicked to note new trailer goes look good
 
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