Saturday, September 8, 2012

John Carter (2012)

Oh, dear.  We watched this a couple of weeks ago, but I've had difficulty writing up thoughts about it.  

In the end, John Carter reminded me of The Black Hole.  A beautiful, visually and technically compelling at times, but ultimately empty, live-action Disney offering**... only John Carter would likely have been too visually and aurally intense for me at the same age I saw The Black Hole.  I don't think that's a good trend in the live-action Disney offerings.

** You could throw the first Tron into this bucket, but for Jeff Bridges' brilliance (that brief clip doesn't do justice to how he injects life into every scene, and is carrying Boxleitner and Morgan, who fall flat when they're by themselves.  I love that scene at Flynn's).  David Warner is also great, but so was Maximilian Schell.  Schell couldn't save The Black Hole; Warner wouldn't have been able to save Tron by himself.

6 comments:

  1. We have noted with distress, your feelings about Tron and are NOT amused.


    End of Line.

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    1. Sorry, Master Control! I'm just struggling to see Joseph Bottoms succeeding in the role of Kevin Flynn.

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  2. Thank goodness they brought robot Flynn back for Tron 2: Electric Boogaloo.

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    1. I cried after Cillian Murphy owned the scene he was in and then there was no more Cillian Murphy. Moar Ed Dillinger, Jr. please!

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  3. Oh wow, Black Hole used as a point of reference. Very impressive.

    I think the primary thing I remember from that -- seen once, in the theater -- is when the robot carves up the priceless notebook (shocker!) and then the man holding it (shocker!! is this a Disney movie??).

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    1. Sure! There were action figures -- I had Vincent and my brother had Maximilian. They used to hang out together and make fun of the Star Wars droids; except, perhaps, IG-88.

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