Escape to the Movies: The Giver - Don't Bother Giving This Movie Your Time

[VinLAURiA]

I read the book during my eighth grade English class and though it infuriated me at first (which I realize nowadays was intentional) I grew to like it as I read on and actually saw where the story was going. I was surprised to see they were making a movie off of it nowadays since I never knew it as anything more than some (what I thought to be) obscure book they happened to pick for the class to read, but I did have a bit of hope it would turn out good and faithful to the original.

Shame to hear it didn't work out that way. Also doesn't appear to match what I'd envisioned the community to look like. I always thought it'd be a more small-scale thing like a real-life gated community as a small town with contemporary stylings but this looks all grandiose and futuristic. Yuck; doesn't portray any of the intimacy I felt from the book. Plus I always thought Jonas was supposed to be much younger than this; isn't he 12 in the book?

 

[SuperSuperSuperGuy]

I remember HATING The Giver when I was forced to read it for school. It's been years and years since then, so I can't really tell you in specific terms why I thought it was bad, but I remember it being boring, heavy-handed and ridiculously incomprehensible. The book made no sense to me; I mean, it was pretty much obvious what was going on from both a literal and symbolic standpoint, but I never really got the "why" and "how" of it all. I remember detesting the ending, too.

I didn't get the "community" gag. Am I missing something, or..?

 

[FiatCelebrity]

Bob did an especially poor job editing the sound file today. Work on your rhythm! Gotta do more retakes, too, man

 

[Darth_Payn]

If I read the Giver at any point in Elementary, Junior High, or Senior High School (the pre-college era), I don't remember it. I do recall Brave New World for my mandatory false utopia reading. Any time I see Jeff bridges with long hair and a beard, I can only think of The Dude. But I for one LOVED the Community (Dun-dun-DUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNN) gag! You just know Bob thinks a movie is bad when he rips on The Hunger Games (which sounds way more heavy-handed than the Giver, if I heard right) for the first minute and a half.

 

[gamegod25]

Boy, that "COMMUNITY" gag got old real quick.

Oh yeah, and it wasn't that funny the first time. I was seriously yelling "Stop that!" every time it popped up. Maybe he was hoping it would be funny the 50th time.

 

[chiggerwood]

This had to have been the most obnoxious episode of Escape to the Movies yet. Seriously, that community joke got old after the second time.

Yeah agreed, this is the first review I outwardly said "Fuck off!". I swear the more time goes by the worse Moviebob gets. To be honest I just wish that The Escapist would just replace him for all of his content. What was once watchable has become something to avoid, what was once tolerable has now become grating, and what once was irritating is now pissing me off.

 

[Cpt. Slow]

What is the DUNDUNDUN! gag anyway?

Moviebob is either a borderline socialist and doesn't like when films are referring to his -what I presume- is his perfect vision of a socialist state and its many underlying flaws. Or he is a big Community/Alison Brie fan. I am hoping that the latter would be the reason why he makes this unbearable joke. Which coincidentally made me stop watching the review.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

Yep. Bob sure is a Family Guy fan. The kind of person who thinks that if a joke is funny once, it's funny a thousand times.

 

[RJ Dalton]

I've never read the book. Seen it and know a whole bunch of people who read it, but I never actually picked it up. Looks like I'll be doing the same with the movie, minus the knowing a whole bunch of people who did part.

 

[walsfeo]

Boy, that "COMMUNITY" gag got old real quick.

Yeah, it seems that when Bob doesn't enjoy his work he decides to share that pain with his viewers.

 

[Valkrex]

Well shit... another fantastic book ruined by Hollywood.

 

[Jandau]

Wow, Bob ran that "Community!" joke into the ground and then just kept going halfway to the Earth's core. Seriously, Bob, learn some moderation. Do it once or twice, then maybe run it once near the end. That would be more than enough. It's the same thing you did with the Sin City 2 review - you had a neat little gimmick to liven up the show a bit, and then ran it waaaaay too far and ended up hurting the overall quality in the process...

 

[weirdsoup]

Wow, nothing like padding out the review huh Bob? duh duh DURRRRRRRRRR

 

[Right Hook]

Boy, that "COMMUNITY" gag got old real quick.

Absolutely terrible after the first 3, I thought for sure he'd stop or at least reference how fucking annoying it was.

 

[Flunk]

I've read this book, it made me completely disinterested in watching this movie. It would not make a good movie, and I found the book simplistic when I read it... in Highschool. I had to read it, it was required reading, so I chewed through it quickly. It is an infantile version of 1984. If you really think about how "community" works it's actually not really that bad.

 

[ritchards]

Hasn't What We Do in the Shadows come out yet?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3416742/

It says it was released earlier in the year but I am not sure if it means it was screened at a festival?

Unfortunately, it means "screened at festival", which is a shame as it is a brilliant movie.

 

[TartenRazor]

I had a feeling that something was going wrong with the film when I saw that the first trailer was completely in color, and the second one had some elements that made it look like it was some Hunger Game-esqe revolution tale. Which if I am remembering the book correctly ( I was also in third grade when I read it so I might be wrong) it was a lot slower than that and a lot more deliberate.

Also, Comedies move in threes man. The first, second and third time you said community were funny, the rest of the times were annoying.

 

[Ferisar]

What is the DUNDUNDUN! gag anyway?

Moviebob is either a borderline socialist and doesn't like when films are referring to his -what I presume- is his perfect vision of a socialist state and its many underlying flaws. Or he is a big Community/Alison Brie fan. I am hoping that the latter would be the reason why he makes this unbearable joke. Which coincidentally made me stop watching the review.

Going to go with it being a joke made funnier by the concept of a futuristic utopia being branded as THE "Community" to make it seem singularly threatening whilst having a name that has about as much weight to it as a hollowed out plastic brick. I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with anyone's supposed love for some concept or another.

The gag did overstay its welcome, anyhow. I'm kind of surprised people thought it was a reference, lol.