TV/Movies Megathread

[Sophie Scholl]

Let's hope it's a case of, "Hey, can we use your name? We will finance your next pet project if you let us." kind of deal.

Maybe it's also as a sweetener because they use quite a bit of LOTR footage to hype the trailer.

Phillipa Boyens is one of the script writers and a producer on WotR. She has partnered a ton with Jackson on multiple projects as a producer on a lot of his films and as a script writer on all three LotR movies and the Hobbit Trilogy amongst others like King Kong. As such, I'd imagine there is a lot more to it than doing a favor for the studio. Even though the trailer is a little rough, I am still looking forward to it. I'm not expecting a lot, but I remain hopeful that I'll be pleasantly surprised.

[crazy canuck]

In that case does John Carpenter get an cash for the use of his name?

He does get paid handsomely for each of these since he still holds some rights to the original. The EP credit is probably Universal throwing him extra to give legitimacy to the movies. I suspect the Peter Jackson credit is just that, too.

You are raising a different issue - is it ethical for an EP to get a credit?  My point is that they have a direct relationship by virtue of the fact that they are getting credit and so it is entirely appropriate for them to take part of the blame for a terrible production.  To argue otherwise is an argument that it is entirely ethical and appropriate for an EP to get credit for a good production but avoid any consequence for a poor one.

Fair enough.

The thing with the EP credit is that it's not as "regulated" as other important credits (via union contracts or the MPAA rules), while still sounding kinda important. So in many instances it's used as an asset, not an actual credit.

Note that I don't want to discredit (pun intended) the many EPs that you'll see in each movie that actually put in the work to make the production happen.

Thanks for the explanation

[jimmy olsen]

War of the Rohirrim

https://youtu.be/gCUg6Td5fgQ?si=FIhlO557rzG520kK

I don't mind the idea of telling stories in Middle Earth as animation. But why does the animation quality seem so bad and choppy in the trailer? It's almost like if it's running at 12 frames per second (like some shitty cartoons do to save on production costs by halving the number of frames the studios need to produce.)

The guy inked Akira IIRC and directed Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. It's a stylist choice. I think it looks pretty good. Art's subjective of course.

[Josquius]

I'd agree its likely a stylistic choice- I would imagine with modern tech having it smoother wouldn't really cost much. But yes, it does look a bit odd. . It like...its in some kind of uncanny valley between anime and realistic.

[Jacob]

My opinion on the new Tolkien screen-projects:

Nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

[Sheilbh]

My opinion on the new Tolkien screen-projects:

Nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

Yes

[The Minsky Moment]

It's not a great sign when the first 15-20 seconds of 2 minute movie trailer consists of footage from a completely different movie.

[Valmy]

The fact that the trilogy from 20 years ago was actually good is a miracle. I was previously under the impression that doing the Lord of the Rings or any Tolkien stuff well on screen was impossible. Now I guess I can concede it is only incredibly unlikely. I am still amazed at how trash the Hobbit trilogy was, that should have been so much easier to do well than the LOTR. We got that one miraculous trilogy and I think we should stop. Well I stopped after the Hobbit trilogy anyway, they can keep engaging in the Tolkien flop era if they want.

[Barrister]

The fact that the trilogy from 20 years ago was actually good is a miracle. I was previously under the impression that doing the Lord of the Rings or any Tolkien stuff well on screen was impossible. Now I guess I can concede it is only incredibly unlikely. I am still amazed at how trash the Hobbit trilogy was, that should have been so much easier to do well than the LOTR. We got that one miraculous trilogy and I think we should stop. Well I stopped after the Hobbit trilogy anyway, they can keep engaging in the Tolkien flop era if they want.

Yeah, when I heard they were making LOTR as a trilogy, and directed by the guy whose biggest hit to date had been the Michael J Fox flop The Frighteners?  That sounded like a terrible idea.

Well I was certainly wrong.

[grumbler]

The fact that the trilogy from 20 years ago was actually good is a miracle. I was previously under the impression that doing the Lord of the Rings or any Tolkien stuff well on screen was impossible. Now I guess I can concede it is only incredibly unlikely. I am still amazed at how trash the Hobbit trilogy was, that should have been so much easier to do well than the LOTR. We got that one miraculous trilogy and I think we should stop. Well I stopped after the Hobbit trilogy anyway, they can keep engaging in the Tolkien flop era if they want.

But you could already see Jackson's movement away from Tolkien's ideas (if, indeed, he ever understood what they were) as the original progresses.  The Fellowship of the Ring follows Tolkien pretty closely in fell and even in most specifics. The Two Towers starts to introduce goofy shit like the Aragorn-falling-of-the-cliff bit and the cavalry charge down a cliff at the end, but is 90% Tolkien.  The final movie misunderstands Tolkien in many areas and has goofy ghost armies and a Charge of the Rohirrim that contradicts the books and would be militarily suicidal.  The trend, obviously, continued to worsen in the Hobbit movies.

I'd credit Jackson (really, in all probability, his wife) with 2.4 good movies in the first trilogy, but only perhaps 0.6 movies in the second trilogy.  The quality declined in direct proportion to the influence of Fran Walsh in the making of them.

[Syt]

directed by the guy whose biggest hit to date had been the Michael J Fox flop The Frighteners

For me it was "the guy who made Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles, and Braindead" which made me more go WTF?

[Sheilbh]

Also Heavenly Creatures! Which was incredible.

Though "I kick ass for the Lord" is still Jackson at his best for me

[FunkMonk]

The LoTR movies (the first three, not The Hobbit lol) are better than the original Star Wars movies imo.

[Josquius]

The fact that the trilogy from 20 years ago was actually good is a miracle. I was previously under the impression that doing the Lord of the Rings or any Tolkien stuff well on screen was impossible. Now I guess I can concede it is only incredibly unlikely. I am still amazed at how trash the Hobbit trilogy was, that should have been so much easier to do well than the LOTR. We got that one miraculous trilogy and I think we should stop. Well I stopped after the Hobbit trilogy anyway, they can keep engaging in the Tolkien flop era if they want.

You managed to watch all the hobbit films?
That's much more than I was capable of.

I did watch the rings of power series though. It was. Meh. OK.

[celedhring]

Alien Romulus. Competently made, but damn, it really is a greatest (and not-so-greatest) hits from the franchise.

Still, a decent time at the movies if sci-fi horror with sexual undertones is your jam.