Reviews thread

[Hunter Rider]

We will be getting review for this in soon, so I thought I might as well make the thread ready.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/39090

Saw The Spirit and thought I'd give you some feedback.

It's been a while since I've been so ambivalent about a film. I loved Sin City - the whole look/feel/atmosphere so I was extremely excited when the lights dimmed and The Spirit started.

Damn.

Some of the dialogue is apalling - I don't know if it's Macht's delivery but within the first few minutes I was cringing in my seat.

OK, I said to myself, relax, it looks quite atmospheric - the bad guy is causing havoc and our intrepdid hero will go to the rescue. Until The Spirit started running/jumping from building to building.

OK, OK, I know the guy has risen from the dead and has unique abilities but the effects were plain sloppy. When you see the sequence you'll know what I'm talking about. Macht is very nice eye candy (ladies, he takes off his shirt a few times and let's just say - wrooorwwww) But I digress.

Samuel chews the scenery as Octopus - I don't know yet if it's in a good way or a bad way. At least it looks as if he enjoyed himself, especially when strutting around in a Nazi uniform.

Eva Mendes vamps her way through the film (at least a Hollywood star who has curves and doesn't look like a lollipop), and the same goes for Scarlett who plays a henchperson of the bad guy.

Spoiler

She's supposed to be brainy etc etc but cat lovers turn your head since she ends up doing a horrible experiment on a little kitten which ends up as mush ... with eyeballs being the only part left, slowly rolling in the drain.

Octopus has cloned henchmen who are seemingly indestructible and extremely jolly all the time, despite getting shot/impaled/disposed of by The Spirit and one of them getting driven over by a touchy Scarlett - you get the picture.

Through some weird experiment one gets 'remade' as a foot with a head on top of it. I kid you not. And the darn thing keeps jumping up and down on the table in front of a rather bemused Octopus going 'wheeeee' until it falls into a blender and ends up as a vampire smoothy.

I must confess I don't know the graphic novels so I cannot compare the film to them. The Spirit has to deal with the siren call of Lorelei who wants him to cross over into the next world (that's the impression I get - not sure if it's the same in the novels), as well as the women he seduces in this world.

Final impressions: some elements of the film I really liked, but equally, there were other things which made me want to slap someone for having wasted the opportunity with bad, bad dialogue, sloppy effects and a general blahness in the character. I honestly don't know what the reaction of fans of the graphic novels will be so,
rather judge for yourself.

If you use this, call me Ms H.

 

[mego joe]

We will be getting review for this in soon, so I thought I might as well make the thread ready.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/39090

Saw The Spirit and thought I'd give you some feedback.

It's been a while since I've been so ambivalent about a film. I loved Sin City - the whole look/feel/atmosphere so I was extremely excited when the lights dimmed and The Spirit started.

Damn.

Some of the dialogue is apalling - I don't know if it's Macht's delivery but within the first few minutes I was cringing in my seat. Of course I'm not surprised in the least, my hopes for this project were dashed the moment I heard that Miller was writing and directing.

OK, I said to myself, relax, it looks quite atmospheric - the bad guy is causing havoc and our intrepdid hero will go to the rescue. Until The Spirit started running/jumping from building to building.

OK, OK, I know the guy has risen from the dead and has unique abilities but the effects were plain sloppy. When you see the sequence you'll know what I'm talking about. Macht is very nice eye candy (ladies, he takes off his shirt a few times and let's just say - wrooorwwww) But I digress.

Samuel chews the scenery as Octopus - I don't know yet if it's in a good way or a bad way. At least it looks as if he enjoyed himself, especially when strutting around in a Nazi uniform.

Eva Mendes vamps her way through the film (at least a Hollywood star who has curves and doesn't look like a lollipop), and the same goes for Scarlett who plays a henchperson of the bad guy.

Spoiler

She's supposed to be brainy etc etc but cat lovers turn your head since she ends up doing a horrible experiment on a little kitten which ends up as mush ... with eyeballs being the only part left, slowly rolling in the drain.

Octopus has cloned henchmen who are seemingly indestructible and extremely jolly all the time, despite getting shot/impaled/disposed of by The Spirit and one of them getting driven over by a touchy Scarlett - you get the picture.

Through some weird experiment one gets 'remade' as a foot with a head on top of it. I kid you not. And the darn thing keeps jumping up and down on the table in front of a rather bemused Octopus going 'wheeeee' until it falls into a blender and ends up as a vampire smoothy.

I must confess I don't know the graphic novels so I cannot compare the film to them. The Spirit has to deal with the siren call of Lorelei who wants him to cross over into the next world (that's the impression I get - not sure if it's the same in the novels), as well as the women he seduces in this world.

Final impressions: some elements of the film I really liked, but equally, there were other things which made me want to slap someone for having wasted the opportunity with bad, bad dialogue, sloppy effects and a general blahness in the character. I honestly don't know what the reaction of fans of the graphic novels will be so,
rather judge for yourself.

If you use this, call me Ms H.

Can't say I'm surprised by this review- certainly not enough to make me want to see it. I can only imagine that as a fan I would be appalled.

 

[[A]]

put in quote tags, HR--I thought you saw the movie

 

[FrostBite]

Ms. H. can't write for beans.

That being said I kind of predict this movie will turn out a let down.

 

[Superman4ever]

We'll see in Dec. I guess. I'm hoping for the best.

 

[theMan-Bat]

Ms H.'s writing had me cringing. I have to wonder if this is bogus. The film doesn't hit theaters until next month. Did she attend an advanced screening? She doesn't say and advanced screens are usually held for actual film critics. Which Ms. H is obviously not. I'm awaiting professional reviews from film critics.

 

[IDrawDeadPeople]

Why? So you can read Miller's film get flogged by someone who used spell check?


AICN always gets people into early screenings. It's probably legit. We all knew the dialogue was written like a special needs person got high and sat down with a type writer, but some of the scenes mentioned are totally new to any of us, like the cat killing and the Spirit's killing spree on Octopus' henchmen. If they pan out to be true, it's legit, regardless of if the review is written poorly... and yet with far more skill than Miller's script.

 

[mego joe]

why? So you can read miller's film get flogged by someone who used spell check?


Aicn always gets people into early screenings. It's probably legit. we all knew the dialogue was written like a special needs person got high and sat down with a type writer, but some of the scenes mentioned are totally new to any of us, like the cat killing and the spirit's killing spree on octopus' henchmen. If they pan out to be true, it's legit, regardless of if the review is written poorly... And yet with far more skill than miller's script.

rotflmao!!

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Thought there would be more revies coming out for this right now!

 

[BestGirl]

Thought there would be more revies coming out for this right now!

Should we be interpreting the lack of reviews as a bad sign?

 

[IDrawDeadPeople]

No. It's simply too early for general review screenings, yet.

People have seen it by now, without doubt, such as the AICN reviewer, but the bulk of critics won't be able to get their cynical hands on this trainwreck til probably the Tuesday before release.

 

[Bubastis]

Ms H.'s writing had me cringing. I have to wonder if this is bogus. The film doesn't hit theaters until next month. Did she attend an advanced screening? She doesn't say and advanced screens are usually held for actual film critics. Which Ms. H is obviously not. I'm awaiting professional reviews from film critics.

Test screenings

 

[Octoberist]

they have test screenings all the time. I saw The Wrestler like 3 months ago

 

[TheVileOne]

Yeah, I'm seeing one of those on Sunday.

Also, it's not hard to believe this review at all. That **** sounds like typical Frank Miller.

I mean did you guys see the trailers? The dialogue was appalling. All the insanity, look at the trailers, and then read DK2 which is almost incoherent.

Miller was the wrong guy to make this movie. It should've been Brad Bird. Even if Bird ****ed up, I think his **** up would've been more passionate or at least more interesting than the Miller freak show.

I also blame the producers. Uslan let us down again.

 

[Comics N' Toons]

you are all haters....

i'm not much for miller either (SIN CITY was godawful)

but give it a chance

 

[IDrawDeadPeople]

My wife and I just saw the trailer together at the theater, and while it was on, I mentioned about Miller not using much of the source material, and I cited Ebony as one of ten thousand examples...

My wife said, "Maybe Ebony is what's stuck up the Spirit's @$$. He's the most uptight character I've ever seen in my life. Is he this stupid in the comics?".

It's as good a theory as any I've heard on here. Something needs to explain why, for the first time ever, Denny is a brooding, monologuing, anal retentive, one dimensional sap.

It can't be Miller's writing whatever, so maybe Ebony is shoved up his rear end for the whole film...?

 

[theMan-Bat]

*sighs*

Can you at least see why making fun of the trailer like a broken record can be annoying to those of us that *are* looking forward to this movie?

 

[Octoberist]

Honesty, God bless you Man-Bat. really, i admire what you and your civil stance for the movie, against the hordes of fanboys without resorting to being rude. sincerely.

 

[IDrawDeadPeople]

Agreed. It's seriously admirable. I'm convinced you have some sort of finanacial investment in this film due to HOW optimistic you try to come across, but you never get rude to others, which is awesome.

Hopefully, I don't come across like I'm personally attacking any fans on here. Truthfully, the only person involved who has gone out of their way to personally insult anyone has been Miller insulting Eisner's legacy and Spirit fans.

You're a good egg, Man Bat. I told you that months ago. I don't think I've ever 'met' anyone online who is so blindly optimistic in the face of overwhelming disagreement.

But, that's probably because you own stock in this film or you really are Michael Uslan.

 

[theMan-Bat]

Honesty, God bless you Man-Bat. really, i admire what you and your civil stance for the movie, against the hordes of fanboys without resorting to being rude. sincerely.

Thank you.

 

[theMan-Bat]

Agreed. It's seriously admirable. I'm convinced you have some sort of finanacial investment in this film due to HOW optimistic you try to come across, but you never get rude to others, which is awesome.

Hopefully, I don't come across like I'm personally attacking any fans on here. Truthfully, the only person involved who has gone out of their way to personally insult anyone has been Miller insulting Eisner's legacy and Spirit fans.

You're a good egg, Man Bat. I told you that months ago. I don't think I've ever 'met' anyone online who is so blindly optimistic in the face of overwhelming disagreement.

But, that's probably because you own stock in this film or you really are Michael Uslan.

I assure you I am not Michael Uslan or a financer of the film and I sincerely disagree with your views that I am "blindly" optimistic or that Frank Miller has insulted Mr. Eisner's legacy.

 

[IDrawDeadPeople]

Well, we'll chalk that up to you not actually being too familiar with Eisner's legacy until you started researching him once Miller's film was announced. You told us that months ago in another thread, so I'm not trying to say you're a fake or anything... just coming on board with the Eisner stuff, recently, which is great.

And, that isn't a bad thing or an insult to you.

You are a Miller fan first and foremost, and so you, quite justifiably, love his choices with this film. I am first and foremost an Eisner fan, and so I have no choice but to wonder if Miller is a ******ed imbecilic hack for what he's done to Eisner's characters.

We're coming at this film from two completely different perspectives. You get to enjoy it because you love Miller's approach to storytelling. I am the loser in this, because I get to suffer through wondering why everything in Eisner's Spirit universe suddenly sounds so horribly amateurish.

 

[theMan-Bat]

Well, we'll chalk that up to you not actually being too familiar with Eisner's legacy until you started researching him once Miller's film was announced. You told us that months ago in another thread,

When did I ever say that? I was in fact familar with the Spirit long before Miller's film was announced. My introduction to the Spirit was in 1983 when I was 16 and had checked out The Great Comic Book Heroes book at the high school library and had gotten a copy of the book for my own in 1987.

You are a Miller fan first and foremost, and so you, quite justifiably, love his choices with this film. I am first and foremost an Eisner fan, and so I have no choice but to wonder if Miller is a ******ed imbecilic hack for what he's done to Eisner's characters.

We're coming at this film from two completely different perspectives. You get to enjoy it because you love Miller's approach to storytelling. I am the loser in this, because I get to suffer through wondering why everything in Eisner's Spirit universe suddenly sounds so horribly amateurish.

I'm actually a fan of both of them.

 

[IDrawDeadPeople]

My bad if I misunderstood you before.

About being a fan of both, my second point still applies. You are an obvious fan of Miller's writing style (which, again, is fine if it's what you're into), and so this film is probably amazing coming from that perspective.

I WAS a Miller (not sure if) fan (is the right word) until this film started coming together. I had high hopes that he honestly understood the importance of Eisner's creativity, but once previews started coming out, it sounded like everything Frank Miller has ever written, and looked more like Miller than Eisner, and had far more of a Miller plot than an Eisner plot... and all of a sudden, it is no longer something the Eisner fan in me can appreciate, let alone support. It's Miller's ego overshadowing Eisner's ideas.

And, once again, if you like Miller's idea of a good story, awesome. This film is definitely something to get excited about... even if you like Eisner, too.

But, for those of us who were looking for Eisner and couldn't see past the giant, overwhelming cloud of Miller... it's really disappointing and not at all something to be supportive of.

I think the cinematography is amazing, Frank's storyboards are really great, the actors chosen are competent, but the plot and dialogue are just too far gone from anything Eisner ever would have done to keep someone who is solely an Eisner fan (and not a Miller fan) happy.

That's what I meant in my second point.

 

[theMan-Bat]

My bad if I misunderstood you before.

No problem.