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[Spectral Glider]

It's just that I find novelizations to be utterly painful reading (and that's based only on flipping through a few). It's tough to believe that people actually buy them.

True, that's why I borrowed this one from my friend. He's a fairly heavy reader of all sorts of things. And you're right, it is a bit painful to read. I mean, it's incredibly easy reading, which means there's zero depth. I imagine it's prolly an almost exact copy of the screenplay.

 

[Hitokage]

It's like Indiana Jones in that it tries to be like the 1940s serials, but I'm afraid of insulting Indiana Jones by making the comparison because Sky Captain is nowhere near as good...

...except Jude Law proves it's possible to hold a flashlight and a loaded pistol at the same time.

 

[MIMIC]

I saw it and I really liked it.

 

[hiryu]

Loved it. In particular I loved Monster Isle, the reference to king kong, and the reference to Dagobah. You can definently tell it was a labor of love.

 

[btrboyev]

I liked it...it wasn't great but it has it moments, and yeah it does have a LOT of homages to other movies..

on a door in a scene it says serial # 1138
it has a godzilla reference
dagabah scene reference


many more.


My only complaint is the movies story just sort of starts and goes and goes and goes without really getting anywhere until the very end.

 

[Jak140]

Excellent film. Some cheesiness, but that was expected; and the plot was more than servicable.

 

[Celicar]

I really, really hated it. It felt really cheesy and Gwenyth Paltrow annoyed the hell outta me.

The part where the fat dude was naked in bed was funny though.

 

[Spectral Glider]

It was ok. Law was pretty good, but I didn't like Paltrow at all. Will probably be good on DVD where with repeated viewings you might be able to pick out more details in the visuals. Not the greatest movie I've ever seen, but certainly not the worst either.

 

[BuddyC]

I really really liked it. Thought it was cool how each segment had a distinctive feel as a result of the CG being handled by different companies.

I'd assume that the first chunk was done by ILM, what with the

Spoiler

traditional screen wipes and the Star Wars-esque feel to it. And the creatures on the island were

definitely done by Stan Winston Studios.

Also, the turnout at our theatre was really, really disappointing. The 10:15 PM show, on opening night, had twelve people in attendance. Twelve.

 

[Alucard]

Seeing it tomorrow, and REALLY looking forward to it. Although I doubt it will be better than Shaun of the Dead, which I saw today. Holy fuck what a great zombie flick.

 

[Kumiko Nikaido]

The movie was entertaining. It had its contrived moments, and some of the dialogue was bad (especially during the beginning), but it was a neat film that showcased some cool CG effects. Of course with every background filmed in CG, some scenes looked really fake and off, but its the overall artistic look that offsets them.

The film had its funny moments (the relationship banter between Sky Captain and Polly Perkins) and the plot was straightforward and all-too convenient at times. Some plot points really had holes (esp. toward the end), and Angelina Jolie's character of Frankie needed more screen time.

Moderate thumbs-up for viewing.

 

[Saurus]

There was nobody at the theater I went to either. Walked in at 6:55 bought 2 for the 7pm showing... I REALLY enjoyed the movie though...best of the summer so far IMO. Hopefully word of mouth will pull some crowds in.

 

[Great Wasabi Man]

I've been waiting for this for a while, I'm getting a little annoied with the commercials thought the one where it mentions something about downloading and some such. I dunno it just annoies me.

 

[Phoenix]

To be honest, I'm not convinced that that system is much better, given that it often necessitates assigning somewhat arbitrary scores to reviews that were never intended to have them.

Its like you're reading my mind!

 

[Tortfeasor]

Went to a 10:30 show last night, theater was pretrty empty. A few people even walked out during the film.

I however loved it... One of the best movies of the year. I felt it was like a modern Indiana Jones flick.

 

[xsarien]

It's like Indiana Jones in that it tries to be like the 1940s serials, but I'm afraid of insulting Indiana Jones by making the comparison because Sky Captain is nowhere near as good...

...except Jude Law proves it's possible to hold a flashlight and a loaded pistol at the same time.

Yeah, pretty much my take on it as far as the plot is concerned, it's Diet Indiana Jones. But Sky Captain is a delayed summer movie, you're really not supposed to care so much that the plot is patently two dimensional. It's all about flare, fluff, and being a 1:44 popcorn movie.

And the differences between this movie's technique and what Lucas has been doing should be obvious. The one thing Sky Captain has is *style,* and the CG really helps bring that out, especially with the Barbara Walters-esque super-soft blur on nearly everything. George just uses it in certain instances because he can.

 

[FoneBone]

First 20 minutes or so felt kinda awkward. After that, absolutely awesome. Definitely the most fun movie I've seen so far this year.

 

[Alucard]

Saw it tonight. I thought it was a pretty decent popcorn flick. The visuals ooze style and some of the scenes are totally incredible and almost breath-taking. If you're a fan of cinematography and movies that just look "pretty", then this is something you might want to check out.

The story itself was a little all over the place, and some parts of the plot came together FAR too conveniently (two words: bubble gum), but I was always interested to see what would happen next. There were some genuinly funny and charming moments. The first half was a little messy, but the second half was far more cohesive and felt like it had more of an actual progression than just a bunch of jumbled information.

So, character performances...

Jude Law played his part well. I've always respected his acting skills and he brings his usual cool style to the table here. Thumbs up. (He totally needs to play James Bond one of these days)

Gwyneth Paltrow was pretty bad. She had some of the worst lines EVER and some of her delivery was almost cringe-inducing. I wanted her to shut up almost every time she started talking.

Angelina Jolie totally needed more screen time. She was totally fucking badass and cool in this flick. Heck, even the eye patch was kind of hot. I just wish we got more background on her or just saw MORE of her.

Giovanni Ribisi (sp?) was also a good supporting character. The more films I see him in, the more I respect him as an actor. He's totally solid here.

There were definitely some nods to sci-fi and fantasy films of the past, including an obvious hock of Dagobah from Star Wars. It's like they totally stole a part of the set location. I enjoyed these small tributes.

Anyways, despite an abrupt ending and Paltrow's terrible lines, I liked this movie. Would I watch it again? Maybe if a friend rented the DVD and I happened to be there at the time. Still, a good popcorn flick with some stunning visuals. 3.5/5

 

[cvxfreak]

As good as this movie sounds, it looked weird from the previews. And it even has a weird name, too. O_O

 

[Prospero]

I have the day off work, so I went to see it this afternoon.

Basically, the first five minutes or so were absolutely brilliant, the first third was good, the second third was mediocre, and by the final third the movie completely went to shit. Guaranteed cult status, though. I'll buy it on DVD once it hits $9.99.

The Conran brothers (I assume they're brothers) need to do production design on a movie that actually has a good screenplay and a director who's good with actors. The actors give the kind of performance that actors give when they're left to direct themselves--only Angelina Jolie gave the full-on camp performance the movie required.

More specific, but scattered comments b/c I'm in a hurry:

Spoiler

--Even though I liked the first third a lot, it also reminded me of how much better a movie Fritz Lang's Metropolis is, and what amazing design that movie had. (The anime "reimagining" of Metropolis deserves mention here as well.) You can't go wrong with giant ass-kicking robots, though. The rest was poor man's Raiders, with a dash of poor man's Jurassic Park. The plot was so muddled and full of holes as to not merit much time spent criticizing it--clearly it was written around the action sequences.

--Gwyneth Paltrow tried to do the spunky reporter thing, but it just didn't work. That flat accent was annoying as hell. And what was with Angelina Jolie's painted-on, asymmetric eyebrows?

--At times I thought they should have just dispensed with the live actors and done the whole film in CG. It's not clear to me that having live actors in this movie added very much to it. I guess I was supposed to be amazed by the tech, but that tech has been around in one form or another since Tron. And just like Final Fantasy: TSW, once you get bored with the tech, the basic flaws inherent in the movie start to make themselves apparent.

--For a movie that's presumably set in the 1930s, it's loaded with anachronisms. Dialogue has present-day slang ("How long were you seeing her?" "I never fooled around with her.") One character mentions the First World War instead of The Great War. Instrument panels and newspapers use fonts that didn't exist in those forms until the 1980s at the earliest.

--The enemy planes that flapped their wings like birds are (and I've given this some consideration--I don't exaggerate) THE SINGLE DUMBEST PIECE OF PRODUCTION DESIGN I'VE EVER SEEN IN A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE.

 

[karasu]

It helps to think of it as a cartoon. I bet if this were all hand drawn you people would be all over it. I see no difference. Just a different means to the same entertaining end.

What's surprising about that? Some people like animation, that doesn't mean they like live action and animation mixed into one. Especially if things look out of place.

 

[FoneBone]

Except, having seen the movie, they (mostly) don't look out of place.

 

[karasu]

Not saying they do, but hate the "if it were a cartoon you'd be drooling" crap. Because really, if it were fully animated it'd probably look better. Akira would look pretty fucking stupid with live humans running around.

 

[Ghost]

I liked the comedy moments, not much else, decent though, much better than the previews made it out to be.

 

[Son of Godzilla]

Ok. I know it's just a summer movie not to be thought about for two seconds and enjoyed purely for the visuals and camp.

But what the fuck did going to Shangri-La have to do with anything at all? No seriously. What?