James McTeigue Reveals Next Project, The Raven

[obin_gam]

Anyone know something about if they're going to incorporate the story thats in the poem in any way?

 

[DarkSovereignty]

that'll most likely be the end if what I think is going to happen does in fact happen.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Saw this today, it starts off great but at the end of the first act there is an abrupt edit in a fantastic pivotal scene that signaled that age old sign that the studios had been messing with the final cut. From this point the film becomes a very by the numbers thriller that has a degree of interest but no moments of great excitement you'd expect from McTeigue as we basically follow along from one murder to the next. The film also has another dodgy edit further in that leads towards a somewhat confusing twist, maybe I missed something but I don't think so.

The strong suits of the movie are the acting and the atmosphere, Cusack is engaging as Poe while Alice Eve is beautiful and charming as his beloved. Brendan Gleeson and the cop from Dollhouse give good support. The atmosphere is a mixture of traditional Sherlock Holmes and Sleepy Hollow.

All in all it's a decent movie but lacks any real stand out moments beyond the first act and feels like it could have been more inventive with it's material. 6.5/10

 

[ThePowerCosmic]

Meh.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Insightful stuff.

 

[Tanin]

TV spots are starting to air. For some reason iy just rubs me the wrong way.

 

[DACrowe]

I was dragged to this last night. Didn't think it'd be good, so maybe it was my rock bottom expectations, but I really enjoyed it. Yes, it is a by-the-numbers serial killer thriller wrapped in the gothic macabre that that is Edgar Allen Poe, but it was really enjoyable. Cusack had the look (if not the voice) and was believable in the role. It's less ridiculous than Vampire Hunting Lincoln and incorporates many of Poe's stories (both famous and some of the more obscure ones) in beautiful production values. My biggest complaint is it's too formulaic and the editing/direction was a bit jerky and confusing at times (notably the Masked Ball/Red Death scene and the transition to the Third act of the movie).

Also, I had never actually seen Alice Eve in a movie before and she was just enchanting in this.

 

[The Guard]

How much "Poe" is there to this, if that makes any sense?

 

[DACrowe]

Saw this today, it starts off great but at the end of the first act there is an abrupt edit in a fantastic pivotal scene that signaled that age old sign that the studios had been messing with the final cut. From this point the film becomes a very by the numbers thriller that has a degree of interest but no moments of great excitement you'd expect from McTeigue as we basically follow along from one murder to the next. The film also has another dodgy edit further in that leads towards a somewhat confusing twist, maybe I missed something but I don't think so.

The strong suits of the movie are the acting and the atmosphere, Cusack is engaging as Poe while Alice Eve is beautiful and charming as his beloved. Brendan Gleeson and the cop from Dollhouse give good support. The atmosphere is a mixture of traditional Sherlock Holmes and Sleepy Hollow.

All in all it's a decent movie but lacks any real stand out moments beyond the first act and feels like it could have been more inventive with it's material. 6.5/10

Pretty spot on (though for pure entertainment I might be able to push it up to 7/10).

Anyway, I caught that bolded part to (the "Red Death" scene, right?) I cant' believe after all that build up it just chops like that. The transition to first and third act there was incredibly jerky and arbitrary. I think they cut a lot there. Also, the cut from Second Act to Third Act (around the scene near the church) is also really odd. It's such a strange and confusing edit.

How much "Poe" is there to this, if that makes any sense?

I actually think Cusack plays Poe well save for no accent and the fact that Poe was literally at the bottom of the barrel by 1849. This felt more like when he was still kind of relevant a few years earlier when he was writing The Raven and chasing a would-be fiance. But they need him to be sober enough to be a hero and have something to root for in the movie.

They fit in a lot of his stories, some with obscure references. This includes him reading The Raven in one scene and allusions throughout the story to The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Masquerade of the Red Death, The Cask of Amontillado, The Tell-Tale Heart and a face given to Annabel Lee. There were probably more that I missed.

It's still a very Hollywood serial killer thriller, but one that pulls from some great source material, if you know what I mean.

 

[Wolfwood]

I felt kind of let down by the movie. I guess I came in with the mindset that if you're going to make a movie about Poe tracking down a serial killer, you might as well run with it and make it as dark and macabre as you possibly can. Instead it was, as others have said, pretty formulaic. I liked the addition of the raccoon though, that made me smile.