n addition to talking about movies and reviewing movies, I enjoy reading other people's opinions on them, and even reading people's opinions on movie reviews and movie reviewers themselves.

This article page collects blog entries about movie reviews and reviewers. More recent additions are on top.

March 12, 2002

Movie fans, "fanboys" as the hardcore and clueless are called, are an amusing lot The passions and fury that they exhibit in discussing movies that aren't even out yet can be amazing.  You'll see lots of "haters", people who clearly want a movie to fail miserably, who would prefer that it suck so their cynicism will be rewarded.  They'd rather have a movie be crappy than enjoyable, just since they get so much glee out of slamming it pre and post release.

While I may be somewhat guilty of this on occasion, that just makes me better able to spot the behavior in others.  Or something.

The Talk Back pages on Ain't it Cool are the worst places for this that I know of.  If you ever do a movie, never read the reader comments on the AICN page about it, unless you really need something to puncture the buoyant lift all the ass-kissers and publicists you have surrounding you are providing. People posting there are bitter, they are petty, they are unforgiving.  They are also very real and honest, though often trying to grandstand just to get some attention.

A brilliant example of this phenomena is the following talk back for the latest Star Wars trailer. 

About the 20th post down by Mickfinn is pretty good, as he talks in typically-semi-literate style about the bitching that goes on.  His writing is far less profane and AOLese than most posts there, so if you think this is bad, don't click the link.

I can remember when we, the fanboys and girls of teh world would get excited about even the crappiest movies. Now, there's nothing but cynicism and bitching... before a movie even comes out. You have nothing to go on except trailers, second-hand reports and the say-so of "gurus" like Harry Knowles. You hated Phantom Menace, folks. Fine. You're entitled to your opinions. But let's not storm Lucasfilm with pitchforks and torches because you feel they've personally insulted you. They're just movies. To make some changes, I propose a manifesto, a set of guidleines for a new fanboy state, one that will raise us above the curent bickering and childish behaviour that has stained fandom everywhere.

1. You can enjoy more than one movie.
2. if you don't like it, don't watch it.
3. They're not out to get you.
4. Make valid arguments. it's not enough to say "this is gonna suck".
5. When it's no longer fun, do something else.
6. get off your ass and do something about it.

The debate goes from hating the trailer, to hating people who hate the trailer, to hating the very air that sustains us all.  Nothing is safe from hate on AICN posts.

That being said, the trailer for the movie is pretty mediocre, IMHO.  Looks fake all the time, everything like a non-grungy Blade Runner.  Disney space port.  They could do better with some actual models and mixing in special effects, rather than all fakery.  The high crowd shots in LotR were brilliant since they had models and CGI in together.  Plus it was very gritty, grainy, dirty, etc.  Seemed so real.

A post by ranter sums up most of my feelings about the trailer.

Those guys had an idea of what a room looks like that people actually live in. It has personal effects and weathered, used objects. Everything was both aesthetic and purposeful. There is darkness and light, not freaking flourescent studio lighting everywhere! People are 100% correct in complaining about this trailer. I *will* let the movie speak for itself once I see it, but speaking does not seem to be its strong point. The dialogue is awful awful shit. They hurt my ears to hear them in any context. How is it possible that someone let these things slip through.

Ewan McGregor could fart and it would sound better than that drivel he was made to say. Christ, even Ed Wood would have re-recorded some of those lines. TPM was too bright and plastic to be Star Wars. This one seems to be more of the same. Using CGI is fine for this purpose, but the problem lies in the design. Everything is just too grandiose, too bright, and too fake looking. The CGI is wonderfully done, but it just doesn't fit.

Also, what is this arena bullshit that George keeps pulling on us? Why do we have to be subjected to large Roger-Rabbit-y sequences of laughing, jeering, honking animated aliens in arena seating?!?!?! That's terrible. We had it with the pod races and now we apparently have some overdone combination of the pod races and gladiator with Natalie Portman playing the tied-up damsel in distress. UGH. Finally: "Excuse me...M'lady" is such unimaginative writing, it just might cause me to die right here. I might just die the writing is so bad.

The whole concept of bitching so much about a movie before it even exists is an interesting one, and I don't know if 10 or 20 years ago everyone was all bubbly and hoping for every movie to be great.  I suspect there was less cynicism in general then, and of course no Internet to provide us with total information overkill, and give everyone a forum to see the bitching of others.  I see very few movies, but I enjoy reading about them, reviews, trailers, and seeing how much money they make.  That's far more interesting to me than actually sitting through 2 hours of a film, in most cases.  And I'll admit to loving bad reviews.  When I click Ebert's site or look at reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, I like to read the pans first. More entertaining, unless it's a movie I really want to see (which happens about once a year) in which case I like to read the good reviews to encourage myself.

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