Escape to the Movies: The Eagle

[Therumancer]

All these movies about the 9th legion, where the hell is the Codex Alara? Those books are awesome!

Yes they are, but there is way too much going on that wouldn't translate well into a movie. It's one of those series that manages to be good by getting into the heads of a pretty substantial number of characters and their individual perspectives on things. Not to mention that like a lot of epic fantasy, it involves the gradual revelation of a backstory as to where a lot of the drama and story resolutions come from.

The thing is that for a movie, or even a play, you can't go into what someone is thinking very well, you need to provide a scene where they actually say it, or change the motivations around so the same basic things can happen but be better expressed as far as a film goes. This is why a lot of books fail when turned into movies.

Even as a mini-series I think it's just too deep, even if I think a lot of things could be done. Really you'd probably need like six episodes (six hours) alone just to deal with Invidia and her perspective on what's going on and how the role she plays through the series changes. Not to mention the role her husband plays, and what eventually happens to him in the end which while deserved on a lot of levels, is very much a WTF moment due to how stupid it was in the big picture, and really takes some explanation on how and why it happens.

That and I think that if it ever succeeded Jim Butcher would wind up in court with Blizzard and I wouldn't want to see that happen. You do this visually and a lot of people are going to be saying "hey wait, this is the Zerg in a sword and sorcery enviroment, you just changed Creep to Croach for all intents and purposes" and really, it would be hard to argue. The way a couple of characters are described is almost identical to how Kerrigan looks as well. While he did change some things to make it fairly unique, I personally do think that Jim was at least inspired by Starcraft... just the way some things are described. Nothing wrong with drawing inspiration, the problem though is that nowadays a homage or nod rapidly starts a legal battle when it makes enough money.

 

[Dectilon]

I can agree with your sentiment. Even if I think you like some truly terrible movies, and dislike some good ones I still appreciate that you support your opinion pieces with experience. Few would argue a Fiat Punto is a better car than a BMW, or challenge a biologist over which plants are poisonous, but lots people will argue with experienced critics over which movies are simplistic mass-produced slosh, and which movies are genuine masterpieces. That doesn't necessarily mean you have to enjoy said movies, but being able to judge what is and isn't good craftsmanship requires experience.

 

[solidstatemind]

Look: it's February. No good movies are coming out. This is a surprise, why?

Anyway, nice digression Bob, and while I appreciate the distinction you make, I feel it necessary to point out that the true weight of the blame should fall on the shoulders of the audience. Hollywood likes to push pablum because that what the ticket-buying public wants to see. The more complex a film is, the less likely that it will become popular.

Because without a doubt, Hollywood is about making money, not telling stories.

It's why unless the spectacle of a movie demands that it be seen on the big screen, I wait for the DVD.

 

[Cousin_IT]

Looks like the Roman guys took a wrong left turn crossing Hadrian's Wall & ended up in the Hudson Valley circa 1992

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

by the way, I'm the ONLY one who thinks that four superhero movies coming out this summer is overkill?

 

[faeshadow]

My unsolicited advice to someone who will probably never ask me if they should see this movie: Skip it and grab Centurion from Netflix instead. While not groundbreaking, it was at least more interesting. (And, if I remember right, more gory)

 

[Jetsetneo]

by the way, I'm the ONLY one who thinks that four superhero movies coming out this summer is overkill?

*can only think of 3, (cap, thor, and GL) please enlighten me!*

For a comic geek like me nope!

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

by the way, I'm the ONLY one who thinks that four superhero movies coming out this summer is overkill?

*can only think of 3, (cap, thor, and GL) please enlighten me!*

For a comic geek like me nope!

X-Men: First Class, and that's me not even counting Cowboys and Aliens. At this point I wonder if we're gonna hit oversaturation and the public gets sick of them just like they got sick of too many Westerns decades ago.

 

[epikAXE]

So, when you say the Romans did'nt controll anything in Britan north of Hadrians wall...your pretty mutch saying they didnt control Scotland. Jeez at leat aknowlage us as a country rather than an add on to England

All semi-patriotic jokes aside, that reveiw was boring. Not in the sense that you are a bad reweiwer, its just you ran out of things to say about 30 seconds in and started digressing to the point of talking about Zero Punctuation, but I guess thats the films fault not yours.

 

[Random berk]

I have to say, in my opinion Bob is as valuable to the Escapist as Yahtzee, and from what I've seen of Extra Credits, better than whoever does that. Its good to see that he recognises the fact that just because a film targets the uneducated masses and doesn't reach his high standards doesn't necessarily make it flat-out bad though.

 

[Dastardly]

The Eagle

This week, MovieBob is bored stupid by The Eagle.

Watch Video

Originality is good, but sometimes being different just to be different is a point against a story. Change one thing, and it's a new take on a familiar concept. Change every thing, and it's a what-the-hell-is-this?

There truly is nothing wrong with recycling plots a little bit. Formulas and tropes became formulas and tropes because they are, at least in some sense, effective. And on this, I think we all agree. But to those that would use this to defend movies like The Eagle, I'd have to strongly disagree.

There's a reason that many movies have been reboots lately. It's because someone wanted to update an existing movie or concept, either with improved story, or to correct technological limitations of the time. (And as a cash grab, of course) But you know what they didn't do? They didn't just hijack the plot and put a new title on it. They put it out under the same title.

If you put something out with a new title, it's not unreasonable to expect something new. If nothing about it is new, you're basically just plagiarizing in a legal way. A movie like this isn't just playing it safe. It's "instant replaying" it safe.

Also, it's reasonable for innovators to be recognized. Can you name the 14th person to state the law of gravity? No, but you know the first. After the first, the ground is broken. Everything else is imitating. That's not bad, but you should never imitate without trying to improve. Add something that wasn't there before.

Doing a "remake under a different name" doesn't make the movie bad, but folks shouldn't expect a pat on the back for it, either.

 

[Killing_Time]

I like Arbys... I'm offended :[

OT: It's sad that movie studios are too afraid of the risk of creating new IPs for their movies. So they just keep hashing out "safe" movies that are familiar to audiences, therefore they have less of a chance to fail. "The Eagle" is a prime example of the rehashing/regurgitation that Hollywood seems to be busy with at the moment. It's even worse that they're making endless sequels, remakes and movie adaptations of memorable icons from the past (i.e. The Smurfs *facepalm*). Until the average moviegoer finally realizes that what he's seeing in most films is the product of a greedy uncaring machine of a studio, who's only interest is in making a profit, we will continue to see a steady stream of mainstream garbage rise to the top of the box office, year in and year out.

 

[Wolcik]

Centurion was already enough for me... even King Arthur was bland and forgettable. I'll pass this movie

I don't hope that summer comics movies will be awesome, I just hope they won't suck - Green Lanthern and X-man can suck pretty easly from what I've seen in the trailers.

 

[se7ensenses]

Arby's rocks & Yoshi sucks. Gods don't run into bottomless pits when they stub their toe on a mushroom w/ eyeballs or turtles w/ teeth. Curly fries all the way!

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

You have to hate on Halo Reach?

Does it give you kicks hating on Halo?

Why not hate on a genuinely bad game -_-

/rant

Yeah sounds boring. I'm going to go try and find an interesting film to watch... probably Dude, Where's My Car?

 

[Ashcrexl]

jesus christ marvel. 3 films? THREE films? i dont think this has ever happened before. this is unprecedented.

also, i dont watch hundreds of films a year but i easily watch at least 30 or so and i am definitely getting the been-there-done-that vibe from this movie's trailer. oh well.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

I like Arbys... I'm offended :[

OT: It's sad that movie studios are too afraid of the risk of creating new IPs for their movies. So they just keep hashing out "safe" movies that are familiar to audiences, therefore they have less of a chance to fail. "The Eagle" is a prime example of the rehashing/regurgitation that Hollywood seems to be busy with at the moment. It's even worse that they're making endless sequels, remakes and movie adaptations of memorable icons from the past (i.e. The Smurfs *facepalm*). Until the average moviegoer finally realizes that what he's seeing in most films is the product of a greedy uncaring machine of a studio, who's only interest is in making a profit, we will continue to see a steady stream of mainstream garbage rise to the top of the box office, year in and year out.

The thing about the whole "re-hashing/being safe" issue is that there is a cause for it, mostly to do with auteur filmmakers during the New Hollywood movement in the 60s to 80s. This is when you had a LOT of films where the studios essentially just let the directors do what they wanted and they tended to get some really good films (Apocalypse Now was one such example). But then the big bust happened. Within two years we had Heaven's Gate by Michael Cimino and One from the Heart by Coppola. Both were MASSIVE flops that made studios play safe out of necessity and that pretty much ended the era of director-dictated productions. Albeit I DO wish Hollywood would stop playing safe since it's been at least 30 years since then, but there was a cause for he current mentality.

 

[Swaki]

Bob, have you heard about Copenhagen, its a wonderful city, we have won several awards most of them good (we keep being in the top ten most expensive city's in the world, but we even it out with higher pay checks and being the best city in the world for quality of life), we are a happy bunch over here and from what i have heard its very much like your home town of boston (i get my resources from the only two yanks i have ever known), my point is that for me your reviews are largely meaningless because we get movies way later than anyone else so by the time it arrives i will have forgotten all about the review.

Now i know what you're thinking and yes there are tons of blonds over here, also "what about my American audience?, they do count for 90% of my viewers while i only have about 3-4 Danes watching", and while that is true the thing is that they get the movies right away, they watch it at the same time you do, so for them its less about the review and more about "Bob agrees with me, my life is complete", and we are generally pretty good at English as we are taught it from age 6-7, give it some thought.