I haven't watched the movie yet, but I gotta cut in here. You're assuming too much and putting too much onus on the director - imdb informs me that it's Marc Forster, who's done some amazing character-driven stuff. There's always a corporate interest in films, and when it's all said and done, AAA movies are about the profit margin. Action sells. Zombies sell. Ergo, more zombies, more action, less plot-irrelevant character stories. So this may or may not even be what the director actually wanted to do with the film - and the script for World War Z's apparently been through numerous rewrites even during principal photography.

The fact that those characters are even /in/ the film counts more than any wasted time on characters irrelevant to the plot, especially since this is a cinema release and not a more complete Director's Cut.

I'm with Matt on this one. Leave the more elaborate character dramas and worldbuilding lore and what have you to the novels, and accept that the movie's an action movie first and foremost. The characters are still there after all, and your imagination's kinda shitty if you have to have everything spelled out for you on the silver screen.

EDIT: And you know what? Fuck you for implying that Forster is a subpar director. Finding Neverland, Stranger than Fiction, and Quantum of Solace were fucking fantastically directed films, and he did all of'em.

 

I'm probably going to wait for a DVD release on World War Z. I'm disappointed that they didn't even try to adapt the actual novel and pretty much just stole the name.

 

Saw World War Z. Simply put, awesome Zombie movie. Thats enough description right there, nothing more needs to be said.

Also saw Despicable me 2. Well...its good, but it sorta loses the appeal and novelty the first movie had and doesn't recover in other aspects. While there were funny moments, the plot was entirely predictable and the funniest thing throughout was the minions.
I'd give it 3.5/5. Only watch it in theaters if you have kids or want to take kids with you to the show.

Better option to watch the movie alone would be to wait for the DVD.

Also, I'm waiting for 5 movies to watch this month. Yay!

Despicable Me 2 (check), The Lone Ranger (Just to watch Depp really), RED 2, Wolverine: Origins and Pacific Rim.

 

Just saw pacific rim - you should see it. That applies to everyone on this forum unless you're a very young child

 

Saw This is The End last night. Funny bits and pieces, but god damn the end bugged the fuck out of me, except for Jay's wish, I laughed my ass off at that. Also,

Spoiler

No resolution to Emma Watson's plot line at all irked me to no end. I was so interested in why she was still on earth during the Apocalypse/Rapture and it was never answered or finished.

 

Maybe Emma Watson stayed on Earth because ultimately witchcraft is against God, and Harry Potter glorified that.

 

Saw Lone Ranger last night. Very entertaining, with some absolute gems of humour scattered throughout. The less seriously you take it the more you'll enjoy it. Depp did a great job without overshadowing Hammer (Lone Ranger). Critics hate it too, so you know it's decent.

 

I don't remember where I saw it, but apparently it was because she dropped the project

Spoiler

near or at the Cannibal scene

as it offended her or something similar. So her part was never completely filmed.

 

Well it was a rumor, but it is not unlikely.

There is a comment on that article that is relevant.

 

Just saw Pacific Rim and I loved the shit out of it, easily my new favorite movie and you seriously need to see it as fast as possible and then a few more times after that.

 

This.

/tenchar

 

Just saw White House Down.

I am not entertained, Hollywood.

Seriously, don't even download a DVD copy of this movie. Download/stream the CAM RIP. And skip some scenes for good measure. I skipped all the scenes with that little girl in it. I /really/ did not want to feel guilty afterwards for wanting to punch a little girl. :s

Although, that Black Army general was lulz.

I mean, what the fuck is up with producing two movies with Identical Plots/Scenarios?

Also, whats up with almost every other Hollywood movie having Douche bag kids that makes me want to punch em?
If I had a Time Machine with which I could only change movies, I would go change this Kids-in-danger trend that started in Jurassic Park.

 

I was very entertained by it. Got some chuckles out of me with some of the banter being thrown-about. Though that did give it a weird conflict in tone at times. There were a few bone-headed moments around the end, and the plot was convoluted to say the least.

But that aside, it's a not an amazing ground-breaking movie. It was a fun time-waster with some pretty cool moments in it. Especially, the man villain's wife telling him to 'make them pay.' I laughed hard at that moment, definitely was not expecting it. Also, they tied a lot of stuff together at the end with a lot of stuff they opened with in the beginning. Those small touches made the movie a lot better than I was initially expecting.

So, if you're on the fence, just rent it when it comes out if you want to see a standard Hollywood action movie with a few small touches that make it a bit better.

 

I just watched it earlier today and holy shit this. That movie was in-fucking-credible. I cannot believe it lived up to the crazy hype I'd built for it.

Go see Pacific Rim immediately.

 

Kojima apparently loves the shit out of this movie. And I'm going to see it tomorrow. Super pumped! This is the one movie I've been waiting for all summer!

 

Well, you guys have convinced me to see it at the iMax.

 

Pacific Rim was good. Big robot fights, scary, badass monsters, cool characters (i.e. Stacker Pentecost) and a whole lot of "humanity fuck yeah." But there was one big thing that bothered me.

Spoiler

Namely, the origin of the kaiju. I didn't believe for a second the whole "dinosaurs were sent from another dimension" concept, and I found the "preparing Earth for colonization" thing a bit boring, at least with the way they did it. Typically I like having backstory and detail about monsters like this, as I've said regarding the Reapers in Mass Effect discussions. However, in this case I think there needed to be more time and energy devoted to it than they were able to provide. They should've left the kaiju's nature and origins in the dark -- saved it for a potential sequel. And then done better than trying to link them with fucking dinosaurs.

Oh well. Still, if you like giant robots (and why wouldn't you?) then go see it.

I hope that this movie will open the giant monster/robot genre up more to the West. They're planning on doing a new Godzilla movie soon too, which could help. I'd like to see a proper live-action Evangelion movie one day.

 

I thought the exact same thing, I went in trying to remind myself that it probably wouldn't live up to the hype and it not only did but every time I thought to myself this can't get more awesome the movie seemed to take it as a personal challenge. People were clapping pretty much every other scene.

 

Yeah, WHD was plain bad. Main characters sucked and this "comedy" direction rubbed me the wrong way. If James Woods had better material to work with he could have made a lasting impression as a conflicted "villian" but this half assed over the top comedy act ruined even that.

The other film "Olympus Has Fallen" was surely not a masterpiece but imho a more satisfying action film despite the ridiculous Korean villain BS. It didn't pull any punches.

After both films I really want to see a 3rd one where the White House is successfully invaded by sane patriots to liberate Washington from the mafia that runs it. That would have been a film event with a huge attraction world wide

 

I actually liked WHD better than Olympus Has Fallen. Neither was particularly amazing, but as decent time killers...sure why not.