Pass the cigars. I've had a lovechild ... a baby Vodcast with Cinema Blend's Katey Rich. You've heard her on the TFE podcast and now you can see her. She's more practical than I and talked me off of the ledge of my extravagantly ambitious ideas. Basically I always try to do acrobatics before learning to crawl. For the first vodcast I was thinking ornate costumes, visual effects, multiple camera angles, original score. She suggested a more dogme 95 approach -- less frills, more talking at the camera --smart girl.
The topic: Terminator Salvation and the franchise. Four movies, three spoilers, two opinions and one ass shot (Michael Biehn's, 1984).
UPDATE: You can also watch it on YouTube but it's an abbreviated version.
This will function as Part 3 of my Terminator Special. I'm worn out and I don't wanna watch Rise of the Machines again. I don't wanna so I don't gotta. In cased you missed it: Part 1 (Tech Noir, The Terminator) Part 2 (Model Citizen, Judgment Day)
Sunday, May 24, 2009
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14 comments:
:( I can't watch it? All I get is a beige-coloured box and nothing coming up inside of it.
Oh good... more Terminator content. I haven't quite seen enough Terminator content yet this month.
Thanks Nathaniel, that was fun to watch. Would it be horribly out of line to mention how hot Katey is? ;)
I saw TS today and I was incredibly surprised at how diverse my audience was. All ages, all ethnicities. The one thing we all had in common, was that everyone seemed pretty let down at the end incl. me. This was a packed 400+ theater and not even one person clapped like they usually do.
It was okay as an action movie. Some fun parts, but I really disliked Christian Bale in this which is funny because I think one of the reasons I had high hopes for this movie was because of Christian Bale. I was one of the haters who thought the Batman reboot would be a mistake, but that turned out alright. I was hoping this might be a similar case.
A lot of little things were kind of bothering me, but one specifically was Jane Alexander. I kept thinking McG was going to reveal she was Sarah Connor. Here's an older lady who's the leader of a resistance pocket and she got a lot of what seemed like knowing close-ups. Kyle would say something useful then we got a shot of her reaction, then later we get close-up of her (concerned approval)? looking at John Connor when he's looking for Kyle. That wasn't the case thankfully, but it stood out --to me at least.
Timothy... how will you survive Meryl Streep Month ;)
Alex. whoa... interesting thought. it hadn't occurred to me but i was just glad to see Jane Alexander.
absolutely agree about the absurd prologue, and the general fear of anything at all retaining a sense of mystery, or not being explained AS IT'S HAPPENING. The first Terminator is a masterclass in how to both withhold and weave exposition, and make action character- based. I saw it when I was 12. I'm not a genius by any stretch, and yet I not only fully understood it, but LOVED it, and still do to this day. I would be surprised if any 13 year old viewer revisits this with the same affection 25 years from now - despite the fact that this movie is clearly aimed at them.
still, i expected a bad blockbuster (reserved tickets before the reviews came in), so was pleasantly surprised by Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, and a couple of action scenes. the second act had a certain cheesy B-movie energy that had me fdecently entertained. So, IMHO, not a complete disaster, but a mediocre Hollywood money-machine, trying very hard and failing, to be in the same league as Cameron's masterpieces.
(but i'll take it over T3 any day.)
daniel -- amen on the last bit. I really meant to write it up but i watched the first few minutes and i just thought NO!... and I am a bit worn out on Killer Robots at the moment.
on the "people don't need to be spoon fed in blockbusters" tip. Pixar's UP (just like WALL•E) understands this. Even children can follow along WITHOUT WORDS when the visuals are telling a story with confidence.
This was great Nathaniel, a lot of fun! Now you've got me wanting to see Salvation even more and I still have to wait another 2 weeks until it hits screens here! argh!!!
Yeah, blockbuster haters like Timothy, breathe easy-- next up is UP, which comes from the one studio that cinephiles and popcorn-munchers alike can agree on. ;)
Glad y'all liked it!
Whoa, now. I'm not a blockbuster hater. I am very pop-movie friendly.
BUT
I do not think highly of the Terminator films, 1-4, so I am a little hesitant to embrace them the way the blog has over the last couple weeks or so. Lots of coverage for slightly above average films (T1 & T2) and a couple rather poor films (T3 & T4).
Meryl Streep Month on the other hand, I welcome. An infinitely interesting career with plenty of worthy roles to explore and discuss.
Not a snob, just standing up for those of us (not the only one) who felt a little left out during Terminator Month. :-)
I TOTALLY agree with your guys' review. It's never gonna measure up to the first two films, but it's entertaining in its own way. What does really suck is the fact that the trailer gives away one of the big revelations of the film and I don't really understand why the filmmakers couldn't keep that in their pockets for the film. But all in all, I enjoyed the film and had many of the same thoughts you guys had.
thanks Henry. we hope to do this again so come back for more.
That was a lot of fun! I've never watched any of the "Terminator" films before, so the plot specifics were all lost on me, but I listened to you all during the Oscars, and I like the vibe that the two of you have doing this. Definitely do more of these now and through Oscar season. You could be the young and rocking version of the Real Geezers or something!
if only you had the budget to start you commentary off right! LOL You make a good team.
I would've ditched the Marcus Wright character completely. I'm sure the idea was ambitious on paper but the onscreen execution was so fragmented and underdeveloped, the movie ended up with one too many wheels. Much of it just seemed like an excuse to insert a new Terminator gimmick, as if each installment should have its own special Terminator character. We already had a solid mythos of characters and events via the first two films; what this film needed was a more streamlined premise: humans, machines and war. period. Terminator Salvation's main hero should've been Kyle Reese - it should've been his narrative that we follow on a journey through various battles to eventually meet up with John Connor by the third act, or perhaps not even until the very end.
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