RoboCop Reboot - Part 3

[Persona]

I think he is an excellent fit. His films have a very distinct style, unlike directors like Brett Ratner and Paul W.S. Anderson who have generic uninspired work. I hope he can bring some of Brazil's chaos to the streets of Chicago in this film. Moreover, I hope he can make an excellent film so that Hollywood, potentially, will search harder for directors who work on non-English speaking projects.

Frankly, Oldman's involvement doesn't mean too much to me considering he's been in quite a few duds (Paranoia, anyone?). Regardless, I'm sure he'll give a good performance. Also, I don't find the PG-13 rating as big of a deal as other people are making it out to be. This is a new film, with a different direction, and the rating does not determine the tone of the film. And in my opinion, the current gun control climate doesn't reflect the MPAA's rating system. This is still 'Murica, and 'Murica's film rating system has always been easier on violence than something like sex (whereas in Canada and many other countries, it is the other way around - this film will likely get a PG rating if it gets a PG-13 rating in the States).

if this movie is a "hard" PG-13 like, say, The Dark Knight, i'll be good.

so, i saw that Elite Squad 2 was on Netflix streaming and gave it a watch last night. really good movie, i could have done with less voice-over and it felt like the ending needed a tweak somehow, maybe a tad more emphasis on the final action beat, i dunno, but Padilha's talent as a thoughtful storyteller with a penchant for the visceral was obvious. and Wagner Moura was awesome.

interestingly, i found the style of the film to be very guerrilla documentary, lots of semi-shaky hand-held with an emphasis on intense realism...which i didn't mind, but it reminded me of some of the complaints i was seeing on here about "shaky cam" in Elysium. now, i don't know what Padilha's other movies look like, but it seems relatively safe to say that handheld is a big part of his and his DP's aesthetic (also the DP on RoboCop), so i wonder if we will see a marked stylistic difference in how they approach that movie or if we'll be seeing some "shaky cam" in RoboCop, too (kind of weird i'm talking about this in terms of two movies that feature Moura, meanwhile Blomkamp being heavily influenced by the designs and ideas in RoboCop and other early Verhoeven, if not as much by Verhoeven's more staid shooting approach). i'd be fine with either approach, but i'm wondering how bothered some on here might be if we get a new RoboCop with a lot of obvious handheld shots.

the music on Elite Squad 2 was great, same composer for RoboCop. i dunno if we should expect any super memorable themes, but creative and intense? yeaher.

 

[Still Wynning]

interestingly, i found the style of the film to be very guerrilla documentary, lots of semi-shaky hand-held with an emphasis on intense realism...which i didn't mind, but it reminded me of some of the complaints i was seeing on here about "shaky cam" in Elysium. now, i don't know what Padilha's other movies look like, but it seems relatively safe to say that handheld is a big part of his and his DP's aesthetic (also the DP on RoboCop), so i wonder if we will see a marked stylistic difference in how they approach that movie or if we'll be seeing some "shaky cam" in RoboCop, too (kind of weird i'm talking about this in terms of two movies that feature Moura, meanwhile Blomkamp being heavily influenced by the designs and ideas in RoboCop and other early Verhoeven, if not as much by Verhoeven's more staid shooting approach). i'd be fine with either approach, but i'm wondering how bothered some on here might be if we get a new RoboCop with a lot of obvious handheld shots.

Well, in a few-week-old SlashFilm interview, he talks about this one Kurbick-esque sequence, which was basically filmed old-school with a wide-angle lense:

Slash Film: I overheard you talking to someone else referencing Kubrick, which is not something I think anybody would be expecting you to be referencing when you’re talking about ROBOCOP. Can you tell us how you’re referencing Kubrick?

JP: We have roughly a thirty minute sequence of Robocop coming to grips with the fact that he is Robocop. It’s a big part of the movie and it’s in a great set, a beautiful lab, and it’s Gary Oldman, a total genius actor, Joel Kinnaman delivering an amazing performance…
Slash Film: I love him.

JP: Yeah, and I went for wide angle lenses, slow camera movements, because I saw it as a Stanley Kubrick…

Slash Film: You’re usually a handheld guy, like kind of shaky cam.

JP: Yeah, but this is my favorite part of the movie, the guy waking up and saying “****, I’m a robot. What the **** am I?” This I shot… it’s a ripoff of Stanley Kubrick’s style of shooting because it’s all the wide lenses that people don’t use any more.

http://www.slashfilm.com/interview-...ues-kubricks-influence-reinventing-steadicam/

So, yeah, it's not just handheld the entire time. And I can't wait to see how that sequence plays out on film.

I recommend reading the rest of the interview. Lots of very thoughtful, insightful stuff from Padilha about the film.

 

[Persona]

wow, thanks, you're right, that was a great interview. definitely has got me stoked to see this thing. the way he frames the dynamic between the human/robot divide within RoboCop sounds fascinating and i love how he's exploring this idea of how the use of robotics can become an absolution of responsibility, and so the different repercussions that then entails.

he does mention that a lot of the shoot-outs are done handheld, Elite Squad-style. like i said, i personally won't mind that a bit, hopefully it will work for others on here, as well.

 

[chintai80]

this movie is becoming more relevant everyday now.

i was flipping channels the other day, and pbs was previewing a documentary they were gonna show soon:
http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/doczone/2011/remotecontrolwar/index.html

^ debating about the ethical dilemmas of drone warfare. i should try to watch this.

 

[Alex_Spider]

this movie is becoming more relevant everyday now.

i was flipping channels the other day, and pbs was previewing a documentary they were gonna show soon:
http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/doczone/2011/remotecontrolwar/index.html

^ debating about the ethical dilemmas of drone warfare. i should try to watch this.

So instead of getting wiser and work towards a peaceful future, we focus all of our innovation into killing other humans better and faster. Great. At least when other countries deploy robots in the field, enemies can play with their tin soldiers and humans will just watch without losing their lives anymore.

 

[chintai80]

So instead of getting wiser and work towards a peaceful future, we focus all of our innovation into killing other humans better and faster. Great. At least when other countries deploy robots in the field, enemies can play with their tin soldiers and humans will just watch without losing their lives anymore.

i think its what the terminator said in T2: "It's in your nature to destroy yourselves."

we're a violent species, and even though statisically we have less wars now compared to ancient times, war will probably be always in our nature.
it's sad, but true.

 

[Paradox1]

Not just drones but check this out I give you the HAL suit currently only available in Japan. However they believe this tech will allow some disabled to walk again ladies and gents the future is now.

 

[chintai80]

haha heard of the hal suit before. seems cool.

soon people will figure out to use those robot power suits to commit crimes, then japan will be forced to create a robo-suit police force to combat it.

the future is now, and it is called patlabor:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57598845-1/patlabor-giant-robot-prop-is-broodingly-awesome/

 

[Gold Samurai]

Detroit is 90% there to the Robocop future.

Giant corporations just need to come in and snatch everything

 

[Teelie]

So instead of getting wiser and work towards a peaceful future, we focus all of our innovation into killing other humans better and faster. Great. At least when other countries deploy robots in the field, enemies can play with their tin soldiers and humans will just watch without losing their lives anymore.

You do realize a great deal of military research is directly responsible for civilian innovations, right? Like the internet for instance.

Eventually we'll make it to that mythical utopia of humanity getting past nature but in the meantime we have to work with what we've got, and it does not always end in bad things.

 

[The Guard]

I don't think we need to worry if that robotic suit only allows some people who used not to be able to walk to walk and commit crimes.

 

[Wookie-Balls]

The future may be now, but the trailer sure as hell isn't...

 

[Rocketman]

The future may be now, but the trailer sure as hell isn't...

lmao

 

[Van Petrol]

The future may be now, but the trailer sure as hell isn't...

 

[Piper Maru]

The future is not set.

 

[chintai80]

seriously, we need a trailer.
i get a feeling this will be a sleeper hit.
it won't be the big name, big attention getter of all the other action/superhero movies...but it's going to be the one with the most substance and heart. at least that's what i'm hoping for.

 

[dark_b]

seriously, we need a trailer.
.

the movie comes out in august 2014. its not like it comes out in february 7. its not like they have 6 months. they have almost one whole year.they have a lot time to start promoting. they can not realese an official image of the suit or the main characters in august 2013. t:

is the studio joking ? because i am and its not even funny.

 

[GREEN =w= DAY]

it's coming out August 2014 now?

it was originally suppose to come out this year but got pushed to February. did they push it even further?

 

[The Chris]

Last I checked it was still coming out feb 7th.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=robocop2013.htm

 

[dark_b]

the joke is that in 6 months this movie will be out. and they have not realesed character images. close up head shots of the main characters where they dont need cgi effects.

they are mental

 

[The Chris]

Oh ok.

 

[chintai80]

yea, this is making it seem like the studio has no faith in this movie.
which might be a bad sign that the movie isn't good.

but i want to be optimistic here.
especially after reading interviews with padilha, where it seems like he has an interesting take and ideas.
i hope this is one of those cases like bladerunner, where the studio doesn't "get" the movie when its a good film.

 

[culver3vlr22]

I hope we get a poster soon. And a badass one.

Movie poster suck now. And this movie is the movie I'm most looking forward to. I need a great poster

 

[Dyson]

Still waiting... A poster... a production still... anything would be nice.

 

[Carnotaur3]

the joke is that in 6 months this movie will be out. and they have not realesed character images. close up head shots of the main characters where they dont need cgi effects.

they are mental

You know what this sounds like?

Dredd