The Big Picture: Mystery Bonks

PuckFuppet

Entroducing.
Jan 10, 2009
314
0
0
The central tenet of all of Abram's work, all of it, boils down to two words.

"Daddy issues."

I mean _all_ of it.

EDIT: Seen ST:ID by the by, those two words directly apply to the central motivation of the protagonist, shade elements of the antagonists reason to be. It also seeps into another plot you should see coming.
 

MB202

New member
Sep 14, 2008
1,157
0
0
Hrm... Will I'll give you this, he definitely is no Spielberg. Also, This pretty much sums up what he said in Super 8, J.J. Abrams has great set-ups, but very poor, often clumsy and ESPECIALLY obvious/easy-to-guess executions. I wouldn't know, I never saw Super 8, not have I seen a lot of his work, but I do think that-wait... People thought the Cloverfield movie was a Voltron movie?!?! Whoa... Not as awesome as Donkey Kong Jesus on a puff of smoke, but still, that would have been... interesting.
 

Scarim Coral

Jumped the ship
Legacy
Oct 29, 2010
18,157
2
3
Country
UK
Ha, I remember the whole viral mystery to Cloverfield (I read one rumour that it was a Pwoer Ranger film somehow)!

I already seen Star Trek: Into Darkness (it was alright in my view) so I can't really say wheather I agree or not with this mystery box without spoiling it.

I guess this will be mention again after Bob had seen it in his intermission article.
 

Sonic Doctor

Time Lord / Whack-A-Newbie!
Jan 9, 2010
3,042
0
0
Abrams' magic box isn't very magical, considering that, when it comes to him taking on loved franchises, all that comes out of it is "pew-pew" action schlock that is just flash and no substance. And of course, that isn't what Star Trek and Star Wars are about.

So, that is why I consider him an enemy, and I'm not going to go see this new movie. I'll be sitting here waiting for an actual Star Trek movie and/or proper style series.
 

Sonic Doctor

Time Lord / Whack-A-Newbie!
Jan 9, 2010
3,042
0
0
DVS BSTrD said:
Audiences are only surprised when the surprise is a surprise. Or actually exists.

My moma always said "JJ Abrams is like a box of chocolates: something to look forward to while waiting for Pacific Rim"
The minute Bob started talking about a box of chocolates, I was preparing a joke. Though I figured that you would be here soon to do it, besides the idea of a joke was blown right out of my mind by my ever burning hate for Abrams.
 

Kmadden2004

New member
Feb 13, 2010
475
0
0
Say what you will about the quality of his movies (personally, I like them, for what it's worth), I will say this about Abrams;

In a time where some films (like the next X-Men and Spider-Man movies) basically have daily twitter updates, and where trailers seem hellbent on showing you absolutely everything in the damn movie, I do appreciate that Abrams at least tries to keep his movies under wraps for as long as possible.

Hell, I remember the off-set photos of his first Star Trek film where he had the cast walk around outside the soundstage in hooded black robes so that nobody would see the new uniforms too soon.
 

ZZoMBiE13

Ate My Neighbors
Oct 10, 2007
1,908
0
0
DVS BSTrD said:
Audiences are only surprised when the surprise is a surprise. Or actually exists.

My moma always said "JJ Abrams is like a box of chocolates: something to occupy your time while waiting for Pacific Rim"
lol. Nice one man.

As for the video, I'm still not sold on the new Star Trek. I know it was well received last time, but I just couldn't get into it. And I have nothing pushing me to believe the sequel will do anything to change that stance. Still, curious that they are being all weird with the screenings though. Good luck with it Bob.
 

Frybird

New member
Jan 7, 2008
1,632
0
0
Not trying to spoil anything, but the "mystery box" here? Only part i hated about the movie, unfortunately completely derailing the ending.

So...yea
 

PunkRex

New member
Feb 19, 2010
2,533
0
0
I saw the film yesterday, the twist was kind of goofy but also alot of fun. That said, I have no investment in Star Trek so I may not be the best person to ask, I expect alot of backlash.
 

fix-the-spade

New member
Feb 25, 2008
8,639
0
0
PuckFuppet said:
EDIT: Seen ST:ID by the by, those two words directly apply to the central motivation of the protagonist, shade elements of the antagonists reason to be. It also seeps into another plot you should see coming.
I'd say the other tenet of Abrams' work is completely unsurprising plot twists and reveals.

Like Into Darkness and it's big reveal, only half the internet saw that coming from Mr Unoriginal six months ago. It would be interesting to see if he (or anyone else) could actually pull a mystery box based sell properly. It would be mind blowing if they could...
 

BloodRed Pixel

New member
Jul 16, 2009
630
0
0
I still don't get why so many people were 'thrown off/ surprised' by the Sixth Sense?

I thought I need to leave the movie aber six minutes (read: after Bruce got shot) because I exactly knew how it would end.
So I dragged through the movie ONLY to find that it ended EXACTLY how I was suspecting it to end.

I refuse to believe that I was the only person on earth to 'get it'.
 

Dak_N_Jaxter

New member
Oct 23, 2009
215
0
0
Yeah. Building something up too much doesn't help. Its always been like that. Like when all your friends tell you how awesome a movie is, then when you see it, it just doesn't hold up to your idealized anticipation.

LOST was awful for that.

"You're building it up too much *yaaawn* lets just do it."

"*yaaaawn* eh-yeah man..."
 

Aiddon_v1legacy

New member
Nov 19, 2009
3,672
0
0
yeah, I will say that Abrams is good at his job, but he has some serious issues with story-telling techniques he keeps not rectifying. And yeah, he is NOT Spielberg 2.0; if anyone is THAT it would Chris Nolan.
 

ShinobiJedi42

New member
May 7, 2012
79
0
0
I like your point about movie surprises work best when you don't expect them. Fight Club was one of the most surprising films of the last few decades, but its developed such a reputation for having a "ZOMG LOLZ HUGE MINDF**K" that most people who see it nowadays figure out the twist halfway through the movie. In fact, I just recently showed it to my brother and had to cough and draw his attention away from the blips of Tyler Durden at the beginning so he wouldn't go "What's that? Rewind and pause!" It worked, he didn't notice them, but it still didn't keep him from figuring out the twist halfway through the movie. He knew there was a surprise and looked for it. Same goes with Usual Suspects in this day and age too. The best surprises are executed through distraction.
 

RJ Dalton

New member
Aug 13, 2009
2,285
0
0
Personally, I think it's a bad marketing technique. You don't want to hype up the movie too much, or it leaves you disappointed when you don't get what you were expecting. Of course, I've become immune to hyping up because movies have kicked me in the balls so many times that I just expect every movie to be shit until my close circle of friends tells me it's worth a look.

But anyway, yeah, the viral marketing is just setting your audience up to be disappointed, because they'll always be able to imagine something more thrilling to them than what they get. On the other hand, I can't say I like Hollywood's tendency to give everything away in the trailer either. I can't tell you how many movies I've figured out in their entirety just from watching the trailer.

Perhaps Hollywood should just stop marketing films entirely and just put up posters in movie theaters.
 

Hindkjaer

New member
Sep 15, 2010
30
0
0
The expectation kills the acural thing, peoples fantasy are bigger than anything anybody could ever create.. Sounds excatly like the Star Wars prequels, and everdently the next star wars movies.. Although I am all game for thouse :)