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Variety says John Carter film is poory scripted and directed

Apparently John Carter goes overboard with the detail right away and apparently tosses in a Jar-Jar Binks for good measure, the reviewer says.
That has to be Woola, but Woola is exactly in the movie like it is in the book, so I don't see how that counts as a "Jar-Jar Binks." :confused:
 
If it's the Toronto Star review, what was actually said was this:

Remember what an elegantly simple story the original Star Wars was, and the incomprehensible, tangle of fan-boy canon-fodder it became?

Imagine if Lucas had immediately thrown Jar Jar at us, and the Sith, as well as the Force being the energy of midichlorians in the bloodstream of Jedis.

With the ineptly-marketed John Carter the usually sharp storyteller Andrew Stanton (Wall-E) has taken a similar saga and decided to skip the simple story part and go straight to the "Wait ... who the what now?"

As someone who read Edgar Rice Burroughs' Carter books when I was 13, I can understand how devoted you can become to every bit of a cherished memory.
 
Even the negative reviews indicate that I will probably like this movie. Then again when it comes to science fiction fantasy I am a forgiving viewer.
 
^ Me too but it's beginning to sound more and more like one to watch on DVD

I rarely go to the movies and would rather watch a movie in the comfort of my home with my great sound system. So I will wait for the DVD.

The only movies I know I will go to the theater to see will be the next Batman, Superman, Star Trek and Godzilla movie (if they're still making that one).

Even though it sounds like John Carter might have a story that is muddled a bit that won't deter me at all from enjoying it.
 
Yeah I will definitely be waiting for the rental on this one. I may be a huge scifi fan, but everything the critics are complaining about is exactly the kind of stuff that turns me off as well.

I mean, opening the movie with a big CGI battle with a bunch of characters and aliens we know nothing about, and a bunch of ridiculous exposition? That's the kind of boneheaded storytelling I got more than enough of from the SW prequels.
 
I think this movie will be like "Tron Legacy" It won't make much but it will still be a great movie
Tron Legacy did all right at the box office: $400 million worldwide against a production budget estimated at $170 million. John Carter will likely fare far worse. Hopefully it's an enjoyable movie, but any hopes for sequels are very unlikely to come to fruition.
 
^ Me too but it's beginning to sound more and more like one to watch on DVD
I think this is definitely a movie that should be seen in a theater. It's shot in a way that is reminiscent of good old-fashioned epics like Lawrence of Arabia. It won't have the same effect on a TV screen.

There's no need to see it in 3D, though. It's not a bad conversion, but it doesn't really add anything.
 
My local flea pit is only showing this film in 3D, so I'm going to have to wait for the DVD/Blu-ray. Sounds like a rental rather than a buy.

I've never read ERB's literary sequels to A Princess of Mars, so I don't know if any continuation of the series would likely be rinse and repeat in terms of plot. I expect further instalments would be unlikely to pay off even if this first one doesn't tank at the box office.
 
I'll probably see it this weekend, and definitely in 3D - I don't see any point in paying to see big adventure movies in 2D when there's a choice.
 
Some upconverts are good and some aren't. I haven't seen one since Clash Of The Titans which was really detrimental to the film.
 
Another studio's head of distribution points out that "John Carter" is trying to appeal to younger men, and they are not reliable as a quadrant. Furthermore, "I don't know that these images are good enough to get the young guys," the executive said.

"Their main thing for this movie is males over 25," he continued. "For a movie like this, you've got to drag your wife, and my wife isn't going to come to this. I'd have an easier time getting her to see '21 Jump Street.'"

Link

That sounds like what I've observed in the last week, and I'm a little mystified by how determinedly uninterested women seem to be in this. There's almost antipathy toward it.
 
That sounds like what I've observed in the last week, and I'm a little mystified by how determinedly uninterested women seem to be in this. There's almost antipathy toward it.
Maybe they should have called it "A Princess of Mars", after all... ;)

Seriously, a better marketing campaign could have done wonders in that department. There are at least two very strong female characters, a very pronounced romance subplot, a hunky hero (it can't hurt that he's nearly topless for much of the movie), a cute animal sidekick, and a rich fantasy setting. There's even a royal wedding! All of that would traditionally make the movie quite appealing to women. But they're clearly not communicating that very well.
 
Warlord of Mars would have been a better idea. Women don't necessarily want to see fantasy films about women when they can see some buff, half-nekked guy.

However, I'm far from convinced Taylor Kitch floats anyone's boat. He just looks like a kid wearing a loincloth. :wtf:

Cast a real man in the lead role. Emphasize that Dejah Thoris is the leader of her noble embattled people, blahblahblah. Here comes the Earthman to help her. Not rescue her, help her. Don't be shy about explaining his Confederate backstory. There's still some romance there (much as I may find that phenomenon yucky).

That's about as much as you can do to make this story female-friendly.
 
Perhaps its the film itself that doesn't "communicate very well." It's one thing to argue that certain elements are present in the film, another to demonstrate that they're effective. Given the lack of enthusiastic word-of-mouth for this movie and the lukewarm reviews (to be kind) it really appears that the essential problem is the film the marketers have to work with.
 
As a man, I can only make an educated guess about this, but when I saw the movie, I definitely felt like it would appeal to many of my female friends. Obviously, it's never going to appeal to ALL women, but I see no reason why it would have to look as unappealing to female audiences as it seems to do. I've actually recommended it to quite a few women and would be surprised if they don't like it.

Then again, I don't understand any of the lukewarm to negative reviews, either, as I really enjoyed the movie.
 
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