Author Topic: I Am Legend  (Read 25134 times)

Chodon

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Reply #25 on: December 27, 2007, 03:33:39 AM
I watched it and I can honestly say I did not dislike it.  I expected more zombie vampires, but it wasn't bad.  I think a movie about the 3 years leading up to the start of the movie would have been more interesting though.

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Reply #26 on: December 27, 2007, 05:49:39 AM

Here's a mind blower for you:  Sigourney Weaver as the REAL Susan Calvin.  Let her stretch her legs and solve a couple of clever puzzles.  Then put Gary Sinise and Jack Black through the wringer on Mercury ... friggin' Mercury in a movie, how cool would that be?  And Alan Rickman was so great as Marvin in Hitchhiker's Guide... let him actually put on some tin-man makeup and bring the robot prophet to life!


Dear god, please don't torture me with further images of a good "I, Robot" movie. EP 105, "Impossible Dreams" was painful enough.

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eytanz

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Reply #27 on: December 27, 2007, 07:51:23 AM
I watched it and I can honestly say I did not dislike it.  I expected more zombie vampires, but it wasn't bad.  I think a movie about the 3 years leading up to the start of the movie would have been more interesting though.

Hey, maybe if we're lucky than the planned sequel will in fact be a prequel ("I'll be legend"?). That would be a seriously better movie than a proper sequel.



DarkKnightJRK

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Reply #28 on: December 27, 2007, 08:09:28 AM
But I have a serious beef against what they did to I, Robot.  I mean, if you're a studio, why pay Isaac's estate, use the title, and CG in some robots... if you're not actually use any of Isaac's stories?  There is literally, a whole universe of storytelling there, and they blew it for a half-assed hack job of Minority Report.

Here's a mind blower for you:  Sigourney Weaver as the REAL Susan Calvin.  Let her stretch her legs and solve a couple of clever puzzles.  Then put Gary Sinise and Jack Black through the wringer on Mercury ... friggin' Mercury in a movie, how cool would that be?  And Alan Rickman was so great as Marvin in Hitchhiker's Guide... let him actually put on some tin-man makeup and bring the robot prophet to life!

How's about you play... who'd make a good Elijah Bailey?  R. Daneel Olivaw?  Hmm?

I think they got away with it by saying it was SUGGESTED from the book in the credits. At least they had the balls to fully admit that they were mostly just using the universe.



Tango Alpha Delta

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Reply #29 on: December 28, 2007, 03:16:37 AM

I think they got away with it by saying it was SUGGESTED from the book in the credits. At least they had the balls to fully admit that they were mostly just using the universe.


There is that... and I usually spot those kinds of disclaimers and don't get so exercised about it.  Most of the time, I keep my expectations extremely low so that there is a better chance of being pleasantly surprised.  Like I said before, I am capable of enjoying light-hearted, bubblegum stuff for what it is.  But in this case, I let what I wanted color my expectations.

Still, if it's possible to make so many GOOD adaptations (thinking of "Blade Runner" and "Total Recall" for Phil Dick, Lord of the Rings, and now I Am Legend by most accounts) why do they insist on taking good material and "baddening" it? 

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Reply #30 on: December 29, 2007, 02:41:00 AM
I haven't read the book, but I did just see the movie.

If you're in to Zombie movies, this doesn't count. It's much more to do with Robert Neville's deteriorating mental state and I think Will Smith did a pretty good job of it although I can't help but feel that someone was holding Will Smith or the director back from making it as dark as it should have been.

I have a couple of non-plot related gripes.

1) Will Smith, or his agent, or the director, just had to put this sappy foreshadowing in there. By that I mean: the butterfly:
2) I think they used the same CGI animation house as in I, Robot, I say this because I'm pretty sure they used the same models, if not the same sequences, but with different skins.

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DarkKnightJRK

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Reply #31 on: December 29, 2007, 10:06:45 AM
I haven't read the book, but I did just see the movie.

If you're in to Zombie movies, this doesn't count. It's much more to do with Robert Neville's deteriorating mental state and I think Will Smith did a pretty good job of it although I can't help but feel that someone was holding Will Smith or the director back from making it as dark as it should have been.
I have a couple of non-plot related gripes.

1) Will Smith, or his agent, or the director, just had to put this sappy foreshadowing in there. By that I mean: the butterfly:
2) I think they used the same CGI animation house as in I, Robot, I say this because I'm pretty sure they used the same models, if not the same sequences, but with different skins.

Well, if I remember correctly, the studio forced them to reshoot the ending three weeks before the movie came out...



wakela

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Reply #32 on: January 13, 2008, 11:43:28 PM
Just saw the movie and really liked it.
Disclaimer: never read the book or saw the previous movies.

Will Smith:  I think he's a fine actor.  Don't hold his cheeseball movies against him.  If someone waved that kind of cash in front of you, you would say, "Bring on the catch phrases."  (I originally wrote "cash phrases".)  In Legend he was able to carry half of a big budget movie by himself.  And while the studio may have lightened the story a bit to avoid a full-blown Girlfriend Rebellion, this was not snappy, cute Will Smith. 

CGI: Not the best.  But I think using real actors would have made this a horror movie.  I read that Tarantino used animation for the most disturbing scenes of Kill Bill (young O-ren and Boss Matsumoto pedophilia).  It seemed like Tarantino artsiness, but it let him ratchet the disturb-o-meter up higher than he could have with real people.

I liked that Smith was a smart guy.  He acted like his character had read our "when the end comes !" thread.   



Chodon

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Reply #33 on: January 16, 2008, 05:00:07 PM
I have to add the disclaimer that I also have not read the book.

I don't know how peope are saying this movie wasn't dark enough.  I lost it when he had to choke his own dog to death.  I'm talking full blown tears.  It was a little awkward because I saw it with a co-worker.  Luckily, I don't think he noticed or if he did chose not comment on it.  Showing weakness with my co-workers is like putting chum in shark-infested waters.  It could have been really bad.

Maybe the ending should have been darker, but the scene mentioned above was about as dark as it gets for me.

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Tango Alpha Delta

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Reply #34 on: January 18, 2008, 01:35:24 AM
I have to add the disclaimer that I also have not read the book.

I don't know how peope are saying this movie wasn't dark enough.  I lost it when [spoiler not quoted]...  I'm talking full blown tears.  It was a little awkward because I saw it with a co-worker.  Luckily, I don't think he noticed or if he did chose not comment on it.  Showing weakness with my co-workers is like putting chum in shark-infested waters.  It could have been really bad.

I feel your pain; my wife caught me ...um...  with something in my eye ... ahem... at the end of Star Trek Nemesis. 

(It caught me off guard, okay?  Sheesh... I wasn't as bad as she was after Jadzia Dax croaked on DS9!)

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beardiebloke

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Reply #35 on: January 29, 2008, 11:40:34 AM
Question to those who've seen the movie--no need to spoil me completely, but: how close is the movie's ending to the book ending?

*SPOILER*



The ending is totally different.  A lot of the elements from the book leading up to THAT ENDING are there but they don't get used.  The woman's concern when she finds out that all the subjects died - that's in the film but I don't think you would notice it unless you read the book.  It's so different that the title of the film is a bit pointless.  I really despair when Hollywood remakes things so differently from the original that I wonder why they bothered.



lowky

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Reply #36 on: January 29, 2008, 07:40:45 PM
I was definitely disappointed in the movie.  It was entertaining enough, and cinematography/imagery was excellent, but it just left me wanting more, especially after all the prerelease hype it received.


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Reply #37 on: March 05, 2008, 02:44:53 PM
I was definitely disappointed in the movie.  It was entertaining enough, and cinematography/imagery was excellent, but it just left me wanting more, especially after all the prerelease hype it received.

This, is the original ending:

http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/03/05/must-watch-i-am-legends-original-ending-this-is-amazing/

Which is substantially closer to the original.  Scheduled for inclusion on the DVD.



Darwinist

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Reply #38 on: March 05, 2008, 04:21:35 PM
This, is the original ending:

http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/03/05/must-watch-i-am-legends-original-ending-this-is-amazing/

Which is substantially closer to the original.  Scheduled for inclusion on the DVD.

Cool. Thanks for posting. 

How do the filmakers ultimately determine which ending will be used?  I seem to recall that the DVD of 28 Days Later had 2 or 3 alternate endings.  The ending can change a person's whole opinion of the movie.


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Reply #39 on: March 05, 2008, 05:06:19 PM
Cool. Thanks for posting. 

How do the filmakers ultimately determine which ending will be used?  I seem to recall that the DVD of 28 Days Later had 2 or 3 alternate endings.  The ending can change a person's whole opinion of the movie.

They don't. The studio does. Unless it's someone like Lucas, the studio can, and often does, force the filmmaker to change the ending because a test group didn't like it. Or some studio bigwig thinks they're better equipped to understand what the audience wants than the filmmakers.

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Darwinist

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Reply #40 on: March 05, 2008, 06:12:15 PM
Cool. Thanks for posting. 

How do the filmakers ultimately determine which ending will be used?  I seem to recall that the DVD of 28 Days Later had 2 or 3 alternate endings.  The ending can change a person's whole opinion of the movie.

They don't. The studio does. Unless it's someone like Lucas, the studio can, and often does, force the filmmaker to change the ending because a test group didn't like it. Or some studio bigwig thinks they're better equipped to understand what the audience wants than the filmmakers.

So much for a filmmaker's "vision".    I wonder if they had a test group for 2001.  A lot of people had issues with that ending.

I guess that's why there are so many versions of Bladerunner.
« Last Edit: March 05, 2008, 06:31:51 PM by Darwinist »

For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.    -  Carl Sagan


Alasdair5000

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Reply #41 on: March 05, 2008, 07:17:19 PM
Happens across the board too.  Peter Berg and Matt Carnahan had to fight to get The Kingdom at the level of grim it achieves.  As it stands, the film's pretty dark although the original ending (In which at least one member of the FBI Evidence Unit does not come back to the US) never even got filmed.

Similarly, Spike Jonze's version of Where The Wild Things Are was finished two years ago.  Rumour has it that it's still on the shelf because the studio want to make Max nicer.  1408's original ending was pulled to my knowledge as well.  Although interestingly for the first time there's a movie that people are in effect in revolt over.

   A couple of years back a no budget indie comedy called Fanboys got picked up by I believe the Weinstein Corporation.  It's about a bunch of Star Wars fans who have a friend dying of cancer, who won't live to see Episode 1.  They decide to break into Skywalker Ranch to steal it and lo, there is comedy.

   EEarlier this year, a new producer was hired, ordered the cancer subplot completely excised and the film prepped for release.  It's in test screenings now and according to reports, is being torn apart. 



Heradel

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Reply #42 on: March 05, 2008, 10:06:08 PM
Hollywood loves Art, so long as it's McArt. And since they're in the business of making money we can't condemn them for it, just hope that the newest generation of HD handicams and Final Cut Studio/Motion/Shake make it so that Indie starts going big.

They've always moderated material to appeal to a wide audience, it's just that recently they've lost their ability to make it good while moderating it. Look at Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Great play that was made into a slightly missing pieces movies that was also great in a very different way.

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Reply #43 on: March 05, 2008, 10:09:35 PM
Cool. Thanks for posting. 

How do the filmakers ultimately determine which ending will be used?  I seem to recall that the DVD of 28 Days Later had 2 or 3 alternate endings.  The ending can change a person's whole opinion of the movie.

They don't. The studio does. Unless it's someone like Lucas, the studio can, and often does, force the filmmaker to change the ending because a test group didn't like it. Or some studio bigwig thinks they're better equipped to understand what the audience wants than the filmmakers.

That's why after he makes a rep for himself a director will often have that he gets final edit put in all of his contracts.



Tango Alpha Delta

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Reply #44 on: March 05, 2008, 11:33:27 PM
Cool. Thanks for posting. 

How do the filmakers ultimately determine which ending will be used?  I seem to recall that the DVD of 28 Days Later had 2 or 3 alternate endings.  The ending can change a person's whole opinion of the movie.

They don't. The studio does. Unless it's someone like Lucas, the studio can, and often does, force the filmmaker to change the ending because a test group didn't like it. Or some studio bigwig thinks they're better equipped to understand what the audience wants than the filmmakers.

That's why after he makes a rep for himself a director will often have that he gets final edit put in all of his contracts.

Too bad, in the case of Mr. Lucas.  An editor might have salvaged something out of Revenge of the Sith.  (Hell, I could eat alphabet soup and crap a better story...)

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Darwinist

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Reply #45 on: March 06, 2008, 09:50:20 PM
Cool. Thanks for posting. 

How do the filmakers ultimately determine which ending will be used?  I seem to recall that the DVD of 28 Days Later had 2 or 3 alternate endings.  The ending can change a person's whole opinion of the movie.

They don't. The studio does. Unless it's someone like Lucas, the studio can, and often does, force the filmmaker to change the ending because a test group didn't like it. Or some studio bigwig thinks they're better equipped to understand what the audience wants than the filmmakers.

That's why after he makes a rep for himself a director will often have that he gets final edit put in all of his contracts.

Too bad, in the case of Mr. Lucas.  An editor might have salvaged something out of Revenge of the Sith.  (Hell, I could eat alphabet soup and crap a better story...)

Or gassed Jar-Jar Binks!

For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.    -  Carl Sagan


Russell Nash

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Reply #46 on: March 10, 2008, 07:48:13 PM
Cool. Thanks for posting. 

How do the filmakers ultimately determine which ending will be used?  I seem to recall that the DVD of 28 Days Later had 2 or 3 alternate endings.  The ending can change a person's whole opinion of the movie.

They don't. The studio does. Unless it's someone like Lucas, the studio can, and often does, force the filmmaker to change the ending because a test group didn't like it. Or some studio bigwig thinks they're better equipped to understand what the audience wants than the filmmakers.

That's why after he makes a rep for himself a director will often have that he gets final edit put in all of his contracts.

Too bad, in the case of Mr. Lucas.  An editor might have salvaged something out of Revenge of the Sith.  (Hell, I could eat alphabet soup and crap a better story...)

Or gassed Jar-Jar Binks!

Lucas actually said that he would sit down each day and not get up until he had written 5 pages.  Maybe if he gave a shit about quality instead of quantity, we might have gotten a decent movie or two out of the prequels.



DarkKnightJRK

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Reply #47 on: June 12, 2008, 02:13:53 AM
Just checked that link for the original ending and yeah, LOADS better.

I thought it was a good movie, if only because of Smith's performance throughout the picture. Still, would have been a lot better if they were more faithful to the book.



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Reply #48 on: September 26, 2008, 05:19:35 AM
Just saw the alternate ending. Wow. Completely different.  I certainly like parts of it more than the ending they went with in the movie.

I hear they're talking seriously of filming a prequel now, of all things. Might've made more sense with the original/alternate ending than the theatrical one.  Endings, man. They're a real bitch. 


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Reply #49 on: September 26, 2008, 10:52:54 PM
Endings, man. They're a real bitch. 

Wasn't that from Get Shorty;D

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