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Post by Finarvyn on Dec 13, 2014 16:11:01 GMT -6
I just re-watched the JOHN CARTER OF MARS movie. It still saddens me that folks disliked it so much, because I've seen it a half dozen to a dozen times and still think it's an excellent movie. Great soundtrack, the tharks are well done, it's just a fun movie.
I understand it doesn't exactly follow the novel, but it's still a solid movie in my opinion.
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monk
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
Posts: 237
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Post by monk on Dec 13, 2014 16:15:47 GMT -6
I thought the same thing. I feel like the negative attention it was getting affected people's reception of it. I saw it early, before the groundswell of voices saying it sucked, and I thought it was pretty good and definitely fun. It's a shame.
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Post by talysman on Dec 13, 2014 16:59:01 GMT -6
It was OK, nothing I'd watch over and over, but I could stand to see it again. But the disappointing thing was not that it made several changes to the book, but that it violated the spirit of the book. If it had been called "Rupert on the Red Planet" or something, it would have been an OK movie.
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Post by geoffrey on Dec 13, 2014 17:43:41 GMT -6
I thought it was an OK movie. If it had stayed closer to the book, it could have been the first of a trilogy of GREAT movies. A trilogy of films based on the first three Barsoom books could have been today's Star Wars trilogy:
"Let us show you REAL Jed and REAL Sith."
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Post by Vile Traveller on Dec 13, 2014 22:10:09 GMT -6
Just think of the costume savings if they'd done it by-the-book!
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Post by Achán hiNidráne on Dec 13, 2014 22:49:14 GMT -6
Just think of the costume savings if they'd done it by-the-book! Then it would have been slapped with an NC-17 rating and NO ONE would have seen it.
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Post by strangebrew on Dec 14, 2014 5:20:46 GMT -6
Just think of the costume savings if they'd done it by-the-book! Then it would have been slapped with an NC-17 rating and NO ONE would have seen it. I would have seen it!!
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monk
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
Posts: 237
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Post by monk on Dec 14, 2014 20:13:36 GMT -6
Martian boobies!!!
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Post by Necromancer on Dec 16, 2014 6:08:05 GMT -6
I actually thought it was a great movie, too. Sure, it might be different compared to the books, but nevertheless a highly entertaining movie. Too bad it didn't go well enough for the movie company, since it probably won't spawn any sequels and it'll be years and years before anyone else tries to make another attempt at filming Barsoom. Which I think it's quite sad. Besides, there just ain't enough pulpy sword & planets- movies being made these days...
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idrahil
Level 6 Magician
The Lighter The Rules, The Better The Game!
Posts: 398
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Post by idrahil on Dec 16, 2014 10:14:06 GMT -6
I rented it on Netflix recently and watched it with the wife and kids. We really enjoyed it!
Keep in mind, none of us are familiar with the source material but for what it was, the movie was really good.
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Post by scottenkainen on Dec 16, 2014 10:56:01 GMT -6
John Carter did do well, just not up to Disney's expectations (and, coming out the same year as The Avengers made sales for everything look lackluster in comparison). I felt the movie took very few missteps that didn't improve on the source material -- and this coming from someone who ranks Gods of Mars as his all-time third favorite non-comic book book.
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Post by Finarvyn on Dec 16, 2014 17:52:18 GMT -6
John Carter did do well, just not up to Disney's expectations Hmmm. I thought I read that the movie tanked in the US but made decent money overseas. Either way, apparently not enough of a splash to warrent a sequel.
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Post by rsdean on Dec 18, 2014 8:28:28 GMT -6
John Carter did do well, just not up to Disney's expectations (and, coming out the same year as The Avengers made sales for everything look lackluster in comparison). I felt the movie took very few missteps that didn't improve on the source material -- and this coming from someone who ranks Gods of Mars as his all-time third favorite non-comic book book. If you have a few minutes, I'd be curious as to what changes you thought were not an improvement. I'd tend to agree, and the main one would be John Carter's less-than-heroic persona... I'm just gearing up to do a little Barsoomian gaming in the near future, probably using some version of Fate.
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Post by scottenkainen on Dec 18, 2014 9:15:16 GMT -6
Sure, rsdean, I'll be glad to talk more about John Carter!
I think I understand where you're coming from; John Carter's less-than-heroic persona is a huge departure from the books. I was okay with that, though. I was okay with the movie being willing to take chances on improving the original story, and I do think that a movie where the hero showed up perfect and left at the end perfect would have been less satisfying than the version we got.
No, for me, my biggest issue was the size of the white apes. I get that they wanted to up the threat level on the white apes for the climatic battle scene, but what it created was a moment of internal inconsistency. Earlier, Sab Than was speculating about what John Carter was and said "you're not quite white ape". That made sense when white apes were roughly human-sized, but seems a ridiculous comment if white apes are 20'+ tall.
My second biggest issue is that including the journey down the River Iss in the first movie means you would have to build a Gods of Mars sequel around a different journey, but I am also confident Andrew Stanton would have came up with something great, had he been given the chance.
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Post by Finarvyn on Dec 18, 2014 17:17:12 GMT -6
Great observations, Scott. The thing for me is that as much as I enjoyed the original novel, I don't have problems with them trying to update the character and storyline a little.(I think that's pretty much your position as well.) In many ways the novels are a bit simplistic, which I like, but having more depth isn't bad, either. I kind of liked the fact that they had the whole Thern plotline running throughout the movie and it sort of made me rethink the original a little. I hadn't thought about the internal inconsistency of the size of the white apes. That's a big gaffe!
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Post by Finarvyn on Dec 18, 2014 17:20:02 GMT -6
I'm just gearing up to do a little Barsoomian gaming in the near future, probably using some version of Fate. I'm having a tough time getting fired up about Fate, but hopefully you'll share what you put together. (I bought the whole series of new edition Fate booklets. I find it to be a little dry, somehow sort of like GURPS.)
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Post by havard on Dec 23, 2014 16:40:59 GMT -6
I thought it was a fun movie. I agree that it would have worked well as the setup for a trilogy.
-Havard
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Post by derv on Dec 24, 2014 6:21:35 GMT -6
I liked the movie. There were some little things that diverged from the stories that were obvious, yet to be expected from hollywood. I didn't find them distracting though. After watching it, I was also a little confused by some of the initial extreme reviews of the film. I thought it was a fair movie that was enjoyable to watch and if they would have made a sequel, I'd watch that one too.
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Post by Malcadon on Dec 24, 2014 23:41:37 GMT -6
If John Carter is a Disney-produced movie, then would that technically make Dejah Thoris a "Disney Princess"? On that note, now that Disney owns the Star Wars franchises, what of Princess Leia? I can totally picture an animated John Carter movie with a mute, but smart aleck Throt, a talking Woola, and upbeat musical numbers that would haunt your bairn until you die! (images can be found here and here.)
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Post by scottenkainen on Dec 26, 2014 14:34:49 GMT -6
Looks good to me, Malcadon! The Leia picture, in particular, looks much better than the look of the recent Star Wars Clone Saga cartoon.
~Scott "-enkainen" Casper
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Post by scottyg on Jan 4, 2015 15:32:20 GMT -6
Big fan of the books. I did not like the movie, but it was not the deviations from the source material that bothered me; that was expected. IMO, they tried to cover too much: too many characters, too many locations, too much plot, and as a result all of it seemed too thin/flimsy. The characters were shallow. the pace moved too fast, they jumped around from place to place too quickly, etc.
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Post by tkdco2 on Jan 6, 2015 4:07:05 GMT -6
If John Carter is a Disney-produced movie, then would that technically make Dejah Thoris a "Disney Princess"? On that note, now that Disney owns the Star Wars franchises, what of Princess Leia? I can totally picture an animated John Carter movie with a mute, but smart aleck Throt, a talking Woola, and upbeat musical numbers that would haunt your bairn until you die! (images can be found here and here.) I was thinking more of Pocahontas. I could just imagine Dejah Thoris singing: Have you ever heard the Banth cry to the blue corn moons, Or asked the grinning Calot why he grinned?I'll spare you the rest of the song. Actually, I didn't think it was too bad. I won't count it among my favorites, but it was a lot better than I thought it would be.
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Post by kesher on Dec 22, 2015 11:46:31 GMT -6
I finally watched JCM last night, and I have to say I found it pretty enjoyable!
I thought the soundtrack was a overwrought and too loud in the mix a few times, and I would've liked to see filters used in general to "alienize" the light, but otherwise I had no real quibbles.
Dejah Thoris was up to modern standards--maybe even beyond (a warrior AND a scientist!) I actually loved the wholecloth addition of the underlying Thern plot, perhaps extending throughout the solar system and and beyond. Taylor Kitsch seemed a bit too young, but I thought he did a fine job.
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artikid
Level 3 Conjurer
Artist for hire
Posts: 70
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Post by artikid on Dec 22, 2015 11:51:52 GMT -6
Loved the books, liked the movie
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Post by simrion on May 18, 2016 8:53:42 GMT -6
I really enjoyed the movie as well. It's a shame ERB's Tarzan gets done over and over and over and his Martian Works are left abandoned or, at best, in the hands of B Movie producers :-(
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Post by DungeonDevil on Jun 22, 2016 6:49:12 GMT -6
I really enjoyed the movie as well. It's a shame ERB's Tarzan gets done over and over and over and his Martian Works are left abandoned or, at best, in the hands of B Movie producers :-( It will be interesting to see if the new Tarmangani flick will be any closer to the books. I hope that in the next 10 to 20 years there will be a serious reboot with the permission of the ERB Estate -- one that will hew much more closely to the original Barsoom books. Hell, if I had the digits in my bank account I'd propose it to the ERB people right now! When it comes to Hollyweird, there will forever be a difference between fans of a property who love and respect the source material, and those with the money to spend and connections to exploit.
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Post by scalydemon on Jan 15, 2017 21:46:58 GMT -6
Watching this now for first time playing on AMC channel. Better than I expected. Like a Rome reunion for actors and Deja is attractive.
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Post by Finarvyn on Jan 16, 2017 6:37:50 GMT -6
Watching this now for first time playing on AMC channel. Better than I expected. Like a Rome reunion for actors and Deja is attractive. Hope you liked it. I think overall it was much better than the critics thought it was, and I'm still sad that they aren't using the same actors to make another. EDIT: It was on AMC again last night and I watched it. Still a fun swashbuckley style film. I think that the problem they had was in trying to update the thing from 1912. The true fans hated the changes, even though having a more savvy princess might appeal to a younger crowd and having a deep motivation makes sense if you haven't read the original.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 17, 2017 14:57:47 GMT -6
I just re-watched the JOHN CARTER OF MARS movie. It still saddens me that folks disliked it so much, because I've seen it a half dozen to a dozen times and still think it's an excellent movie. Great soundtrack, the tharks are well done, it's just a fun movie. I understand it doesn't exactly follow the novel, but it's still a solid movie in my opinion. I just discovered this thread and I did enjoy the movie and have watched it multiple times. There is nothing they could have done IMO to improve on the casting of the role of Dejah Thoris. Lynn Collins is exactly what I have always pictured Dejah Thoris to look like. I was a bit put off by the fact that Taylor Kitsch, looks nothing like John Carter IMO, and does not follow the character of the John Carter in the books at all. Missing was everything that makes John Carter, John Carter. Gone the greatest swordsman of two planets, gone the confidence and southern arrogance, that is where the film failed the most. I would guess that this failure was spread equally between the screenwriter, the director and the actor. Still fun to watch, just much less than it could have been. As to following the book, I am not aware of anything(aside from enough clothing to keep the potential audience large) that needed to be updated from the book or of anything that would not have been better if they had followed the book much more closely. I find it rather funny that anyone thinks they can improve on the pure storytelling of Burroughs or Howard.
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Post by Finarvyn on Mar 31, 2017 13:25:32 GMT -6
Finally got my 20-ish daughter to watch John Carter, and we spent some time discussing the original novels and how the movie changed some things. (1) She definitely liked the fact that Dejah Thoris was a scientist and got to bash things with a sword. She said she probably wouldn't have liked the movie as much if Dejah had been too passive. (2) She thought that the backstory with the dead wife gave JC a lot of motivation, but that it was sad. So, from the perspective of a young lady who grew up slaying beasts via OD&D, she liked the fact that the movie updated characters to a more modern slant rather than staying by-the-book. Just her two cents on the issue.
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