Is... *nothing* sacred?

[Raithe]

Some movies (I believe they call them 'franchises') lend themselves to sequels. FFS, I love the Bourne movies, for me number three was the best.

 

I just think that Bladerunner is complete. It's a gem. Leave it be.

 

You should try reading the original Bourne book trilogy.. although they're getting just a wee bit dated now..

[Enoch]

I do agree that it's a poor choice for a pure sequel-- the stories of the main characters all reached a point where further inquiry would detract from their appeal. But a nominal sequel that's different story in the same setting could work pretty well.

 

The setting was really the only thing about the first film that was truly remarkable to me. The plotting was strong, and Ford and chick-who-played-Rachel gave good performances. But the rest of the acting was pretty bad and the dialogue was mostly terrible. The art direction, though, was absolutely fantastic.

[Monte Carlo]

The setting, I agree, is awesome, but....

 

The memes around urban dystopia / environmental carnage / cloning / the ethics of robotics... these have all been done since in other movies and sometimes better.

[Guard Dog]

I do agree that it's a poor choice for a pure sequel-- the stories of the main characters all reached a point where further inquiry would detract from their appeal. But a nominal sequel that's different story in the same setting could work pretty well.

 

The setting was really the only thing about the first film that was truly remarkable to me. The plotting was strong, and Ford and chick-who-played-Rachel gave good performances. But the rest of the acting was pretty bad and the dialogue was mostly terrible. The art direction, though, was absolutely fantastic.

I'd have to agree actually. The soundtrack along with the setting and visuals actually made the story take a back seat. It had a deep sense of distopian sadness. I think that is the lightning in the bottle they will not be able to recapture without descending into parody. Hollywood can make a pretty good movie when they put their minds to it but most of the time I don't think they really get WHY a movie was good. That makes it impossible to repeat.

[Raithe]

Oh what was it.. There was a short lived tv series something like Total Recall 2070 or some such.. and they'd actually kind of fused elements of both Total Recall and Bladerunner together...

 

And hey, regardless, how many people can forget the impression of Rutger Hauer's brilliant improvised speech at the end??

Edited March 4, 2011 by Raithe

[Nepenthe]

Some movies (I believe they call them 'franchises') lend themselves to sequels. FFS, I love the Bourne movies, for me number three was the best.

While to me, the Bourne sequels are the equivalent of the Matrix ones. YMMV.

[Monte Carlo]

Some movies (I believe they call them 'franchises') lend themselves to sequels. FFS, I love the Bourne movies, for me number three was the best.

While to me, the Bourne sequels are the equivalent of the Matrix ones. YMMV.

 

That's really harsh. I mean, ouch.

[213374U]

Probabilities of it being any good are pretty small.

Agreed. Probabilities of yet another Trek movie being any good were pretty small as well, but the facelift did work, surprisingly enough. So as long as the probabilty is non-zero (Uwe Boll directing for example), I'm not against a sequel.

 

What I'd really like to see though is new stuff that compares favorably to the masterpieces of the past. After watching Repo Men, I'm increasingly convinced that there's something very wrong at the core of the (sci-fi) filmmaking business. Is talent a thing of the past or what?

 

What I don't see is how a crappy sequel or spinoff reflects on the original, though. Same as with the automatic trashing of sequels of cult games, me no understand.

Edited March 5, 2011 by 213374U

[Nepenthe]

Some movies (I believe they call them 'franchises') lend themselves to sequels. FFS, I love the Bourne movies, for me number three was the best.

While to me, the Bourne sequels are the equivalent of the Matrix ones. YMMV.

 

That's really harsh. I mean, ouch.

In fact, I actually own the Matrix sequels, while I absolutely refuse to get either Supremacy or Ultimatum. So I was actually being charitable in my initial assessment.

[kirottu]

Second Bourne movie is the best from those three.

[Nepenthe]

Y'know what, never mind.

Edited March 5, 2011 by Nepenthe

[kirottu]

Yes, your taste is inferior to my taste.

[Nepenthe]

[C2B]

 

Sorry for asking but,....

 

Whats exactly the joke?

[Meshugger]

I think that Hollywood will be at their worst with "sequelitis" when they're announcing that Citizen Kane needs a "reboot", "prequel" or "sequel".

[Nightshape]

 

Sorry for asking but,....

 

Whats exactly the joke?

 

Mariani Wine is aparently sacred, because the pope seems to endorse it in some manner. Frankly it requires you to see the pope as a sacred figure and not a protector and purveyor of child molestation.

 

Hence the joke failed epically for me.

[Guard Dog]

The real problem is the movie business really is out of ideas. Which I find amazing because print & electonic fiction has never been easier to produce so there should be no end of excellent novels to adapt.

[Walsingham]

The real problem is the movie business really is out of ideas. Which I find amazing because print & electonic fiction has never been easier to produce so there should be no end of excellent novels to adapt.

 

I agree, but perhaps the reason it is out of ideas is because mainstream movies have to follow such a restrictive format. If you have to have a limited array of characters, 1.5-2 hours time, and have to end happily then what the hell can you write about? Just occurred to me...

[Nepenthe]

The real problem is the movie business really is out of ideas. Which I find amazing because print & electonic fiction has never been easier to produce so there should be no end of excellent novels to adapt.

 

I agree, but perhaps the reason it is out of ideas is because mainstream movies have to follow such a restrictive format. If you have to have a limited array of characters, 1.5-2 hours time, and have to end happily then what the hell can you write about? Just occurred to me...

And PG-13, thus forcing a strange set of values on us, where nudity leads to immediate moral corruption and it's OK to show violence, as long as you don't show its results.

[Orogun01]

Speaking of which, they are showing a marathon of all the Indiana Jones movies on USA because they're featuring the network premiere of the Crystal Skull. A movie that should tell you that sacred in Hollywood just gets in the way of making money.

[Monte Carlo]

Hmmm. The Indiana Jones movies are an interesting case in point as the first three movies aren't at all bad. In fact, I really like the third as much as the first.

 

So I'm prepared to understand, if not forgive, the steaming pile of cack number four was. I suspect it was script-doctored / marketeered in a way that wasn't done in the 1980's.

Edited March 6, 2011 by Monte Carlo

[Enoch]

Hollywood isn't out of ideas. Partly, we all overstate the originality of whatever period we think of as the 'golden age.'

 

But mostly, it's just studios being very conservative. It used to be able to count on a huge audience of people who habitually went to the movies on a weekly basis. Over the last 20-30 years, that audience has dried up, which meant that each new film coming out has to sell the audience on laying down their cash to go see it, rather than just have a better-looking poster in the lobby than the other films out that week do. Individual film marketing is crazy-expensive, and it is absolutely necessary to get any kind of return on your production investment. All these sequels/remakes/adaptations are great for studios because they make the marketing cheaper-- the target audience can hear the words "Ishtar 2" or "Air Wolf: The Movie" and instantly know what the film is about and whether they'd be interested in seeing it. That makes the ad-buy a lot cheaper-- it takes fewer iterations of an ad to make an impression on the audience, and they can be shorter. Plus, you get a lot more free media coverage when you're working with an established property (see, e.g., this thread).

 

Also, the international audience is bigger than ever. Nuanced dramas and comedies don't always translate well, but explosions and slapstick need no translation.

Hmmm. The Indiana Jones movies are an interesting case in point as the first three movies aren't at all bad. In fact, I really like the third as much as the first.

 

So I'm prepared to understand, if not forgive, the steaming pile of cack number four was. I suspect it was script-doctored / marketeered in a way that wasn't done in the 1980's.

Or maybe the original audience had aged to the point where it has become jaded and hypercritical.

[Orogun01]

Hmmm. The Indiana Jones movies are an interesting case in point as the first three movies aren't at all bad. In fact, I really like the third as much as the first.

 

So I'm prepared to understand, if not forgive, the steaming pile of cack number four was. I suspect it was script-doctored / marketeered in a way that wasn't done in the 1980's.

I think that it came from a lack of people that would stand up against Steven Spielberg. Did you know that he actually intended to make the Temple of Doom be like some sort of Land of the Lost, dinosaurs included and everything. Problem is that when you reach legendary status is harder to get people that disagree with you.

 

My hope is that since Blade Runner was a cult classic (at least in the US) they will realize that it's not a mass appeal film and think that they will lose money. But then again they seem to shot for a sure thing despite evidence to the contrary, they seem to believe that the fans will flock to the theaters despite this being a corruption of the original. Not that they don't have a reason to think otherwise.

[ramza]

Nooooooooo!!! Don't mess with one of my favourite movies!!!

[Guard Dog]

"Air Wolf: The Movie"

Shhhh, nonono don't give them any ideas! No more TV shows into movies!

 

Actually Miami Vice was pretty good.