Episode 147 - Gamer: LIVE!

[taylor anne photo 11311]

Totally.

 

But I'm still gonna be there opening night.

I might watch it for literally only one reason

 

[FisterRoboto 7499]

I might watch it for literally only one reason

 

Because you hope to see me there?

[taylor anne photo 11311]

Because you hope to see me there?

I just wanna talk about Ruby Rose and why I may be there on opening night too and you gotta be like that?

 

[FisterRoboto 7499]

I just wanna talk about Ruby Rose and why I may be there on opening night too and you gotta be like that?

 

IT'S THE ONLY WAY I KNOW, TAYLOR ANNE!

 

(Also, I don't know who Ruby Rose is, but it looks like she's gonna be in John Wick 2 also)

[grog1138 60]

It's nice to hear Emily Gordon's voice again. I miss her and Kumail on The Indoor Kids.

[chumpmonkey 9]

It seems to me that the biggest fundamental flaw with Gamer is this: It seems to be trying to serve as an indictment of the kind of sleazy douchebag guys who would think it would be really cool to be able to control another human being, making him kill other people, or forcing women to do degrading sexual things. Yet, the style of the film, with all its violence, gratuitous nudity, even the obnoxious soundtrack, makes it the kind of movie that appeals to that exact kind of douchebag!

[sycasey 110]

It seems to me that the biggest fundamental flaw with Gamer is this: It seems to be trying to serve as an indictment of the kind of sleazy douchebag guys who would think it would be really cool to be able to control another human being, making him kill other people, or forcing women to do degrading sexual things. Yet, the style of the film, with all its violence, gratuitous nudity, even the obnoxious soundtrack, makes it the kind of movie that appeals to that exact kind of douchebag!

 

Very true. The thing that disappointed me about the filmmaking style is this:

 

The most obvious inspiration for this film is video games, and specifically first-person shooter games (Doom, Halo, Call of Duty, etc.). But the style of this film doesn't evoke those at all! Rather than committing as much as possible to a fixed perspective, which would call for a lot of single long takes, it's all chopped up in the editing, throwing action shots at you willy-nilly. There are virtually no shots taken from the perspective of Gerard Butler's character. The movie doesn't even come close to replicating the experience of playing that kind of game, which makes you wonder what the heck the point was supposed to be.

[Cannonball 4]

 

Very true. The thing that disappointed me about the filmmaking style is this:

 

The most obvious inspiration for this film is video games, and specifically first-person shooter games (Doom, Halo, Call of Duty, etc.). But the style of this film doesn't evoke those at all! Rather than committing as much as possible to a fixed perspective, which would call for a lot of single long takes, it's all chopped up in the editing, throwing action shots at you willy-nilly. There are virtually no shots taken from the perspective of Gerard Butler's character. The movie doesn't even come close to replicating the experience of playing that kind of game, which makes you wonder what the heck the point was supposed to be.

 

Yeah, the player perspective is almost always in 3rd person. But like you say, it's not always in the same spot in relation to the slayer. There is a moment in the 3rd battle we see, Kable's 29th, when Kable enters the parking garage when we see Simon in front of his screen wall and the image is from Kable's perspective, but that's the only time it happens.

 

And how did they get these images anyway? I would say they used those floating silver orbs like the one that saw Kable with the vodka or the one that showed up when he was trying to escape, but we never see them around any of the slayers. At least with the first person perspective you could make up some BS about the nanites transmitting data from the slayers visual cortex.

[ElieB 238]

Great point sycasey. But you don't hire Gerard Butler and deny the audience a view of his glory by going into his POV. lol though they could have at least taken the Doom/Karl Urban route of going into his POV for just a climactic fight scene near the end. I'm guessing Hardcore Henry is the best movie to even attempt a full length POV and it was a disaster of a film. (No matter how much I love Sharlto Copley)

[WindyCityMonster 15]

Gerard Butler's basis for being in prison in the first place makes no sense. He was arrested and convicted for murder, but in order to bring charges, let alone a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt, there would have been an investigation and evidence presented as to how and why Gerard killed the other man in the interrogation room. How would a DA explain away the circumstances surrounding Gerard having a gun in an interrogation room where his colleague just happens to show up and sit down, then talk to him and very obviously reluctantly shoot him? Wouldn't anybody have asked for the audio, and wouldn't the investigation exposed the fact that Gerard was a lab rat in a top-secret body control experiment?

 

Also, why would Dexter and/or the government rat Gerard out and send him to prison to die? Gerard appears to be one of the first people fitted with the body control devices and shot the other guy as part of the experiment process, so why would Dexter and/or government risk exposure by then having Gerard arrested for murder? They clearly had a controllable soldier and a product that worked, so wouldn't it make more sense to keep Gerard close and allied with Dexter and/or the government, or at least keep using him in tests?

[Dedre_NvR 30]

Guys... This is in the trailer...

[sycasey 110]

Great point sycasey. But you don't hire Gerard Butler and deny the audience a view of his glory by going into his POV. lol though they could have at least taken the Doom/Karl Urban route of going into his POV for just a climactic fight scene near the end. I'm guessing Hardcore Henry is the best movie to even attempt a full length POV and it was a disaster of a film. (No matter how much I love Sharlto Copley)

 

Probably you can't comment to a strict first-person perspective for the whole movie, but for action scenes you certainly can, or at least for significant chunks of them. Maybe the best example of how to use a fixed-perspective camera to enhance action scenes comes from Alfonso Cuaron, in movies that aren't really even trying to evoke video games (Children of Men, Gravity).

[FisterRoboto 7499]

I'm guessing Hardcore Henry is the best movie to even attempt a full length POV and it was a disaster of a film. (No matter how much I love Sharlto Copley)

That movie was perfectly what it wanted to be.

[Cameron H. 23786]

Has everyone had the chance to see the new Wonder Woman trailer?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q8fG0TtVAY

 

This looks much better to me than the first one...Oh God. I'm starting to hope again.

[FisterRoboto 7499]

Has everyone had the chance to see the new Wonder Woman trailer?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q8fG0TtVAY

 

This looks much better to me than the first one...Oh God. I'm starting to hope again.

Wonder Woman is the one DC movie I've actually been looking forward to. She was the best part of BvS, and come on...it's Gisele from Fasts 5 and 6 AND they got Patty Jenkins to direct, so I'm hoping it's going to be a lot less Snyder-y. I'm also glad that they're actually letting a DC movie (other than Suicide Squad) have some color to it. Not everything needs to be washed out until it's completely sepia.

[ElieB 238]

That movie was perfectly what it wanted to be.

 

Hahah it certainly was and I had some good laughs watching it. But usually I can get myself invested in characters in even the worst movies but it's kind of impossible when your main character is both off camera and has no lines of dialogue for the entire movie. Though it did get funnier and funnier every time Sharlto popped back into the movie in a different disguise lol.

[sycasey 110]

Has everyone had the chance to see the new Wonder Woman trailer?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q8fG0TtVAY

 

This looks much better to me than the first one...Oh God. I'm starting to hope again.

 

Giving me a Captain America feel (not a bad thing).

[ElieB 238]

Totally. My hope is that it gives us a version of Cap and his howling commandos that we didn't really get enough of in First Avenger.

[sycasey 110]

Totally. My hope is that it gives us a version of Cap and his howling commandos that we didn't really get enough of in First Avenger.

 

But then again, the Suicide Squad trailers made it look like it might be fun and irreverent like Guardians of the Galaxy. Not so much.

 

Suicide Squad, though, seemed like it was clearly intended to be something else at first and then someone decided on a late course correction. Here's hoping Wonder Woman is a more cohesive thing.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

Also, remember how amazing that trailer for Man of Steel was?

 

(but holy crap I'm so ready for WW)

[The_Other_MikeD 68]

Gerard Butler's basis for being in prison in the first place makes no sense. He was arrested and convicted for murder, but in order to bring charges, let alone a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt, there would have been an investigation and evidence presented as to how and why Gerard killed the other man in the interrogation room. How would a DA explain away the circumstances surrounding Gerard having a gun in an interrogation room where his colleague just happens to show up and sit down, then talk to him and very obviously reluctantly shoot him? Wouldn't anybody have asked for the audio, and wouldn't the investigation exposed the fact that Gerard was a lab rat in a top-secret body control experiment?

 

Also, why would Dexter and/or the government rat Gerard out and send him to prison to die? Gerard appears to be one of the first people fitted with the body control devices and shot the other guy as part of the experiment process, so why would Dexter and/or government risk exposure by then having Gerard arrested for murder? They clearly had a controllable soldier and a product that worked, so wouldn't it make more sense to keep Gerard close and allied with Dexter and/or the government, or at least keep using him in tests?

 

I may be just a caveman lawyer but I see a guy shoot another guy in the head and I'm going to think he's guilty. Just watch some 'real crime' tv shows and you wills see endless poorly audioed video of people being interrogated by the police. Suppose the prosecution just shows Kable standing up and shooting the guy? Case closed.

[FisterRoboto 7499]

 

But then again, the Suicide Squad trailers made it look like it might be fun and irreverent like Guardians of the Galaxy. Not so much.

 

Suicide Squad, though, seemed like it was clearly intended to be something else at first and then someone decided on a late course correction. Here's hoping Wonder Woman is a more cohesive thing.

Really? I thought SS looked like a hot mess from the first trailer. They portrayed Harley like that kid in high school that "hears voices" and does other shit just to show how totally weird they are. Jai Courtney was the only part of the trailer I found amusing, and that is something no one has ever said about Jai Courtney.

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

This is almost certainly the wrong section to post this in, but after seeing the Wonder Woman trailer above, I thought I would come here to express my vibrating excitement about the trailer below. Not so much How Did This Get Made as HOLY FUCK THIS GOT MADE FINALLY. The first one was so hugely important to me as an 18 year old. Now I'm 38 and we get this. Year made.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsozpEE543w

 

Edit: I just 'liked' my own post, that's how excited I am. Not unliking.

[FisterRoboto 7499]

This is almost certainly the wrong section to post this in, but after seeing the Wonder Woman trailer above, I thought I would come here to express my vibrating excitement about the trailer below. Not so much How Did This Get Made as HOLY FUCK THIS GOT MADE FINALLY. The first one was so hugely important to me as an 18 year old. Now I'm 38 and we get this. Year made.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsozpEE543w

 

Edit: I just 'liked' my own post, that's how excited I am. Not unliking.

I'm very cautiously excited about this. I loved Trainspotting in high school. But it's also one of those movies that's so anchored in its time and place (even though the film is set in the 80s, it's a very 90s movie visually, structurally, and thematically). It's really hard for me to imagine a Trainspotting set today. But I do have a lot of faith in Danny Boyle, and I got more than a little excited when Begbie (and Kelly MacDonald) came on screen in the trailer.

 

The trailer was obviously made to be a throwback to the original, but I hope they get away from the self-referential shtick they're using in the trailer and really try to make it its own film. Everything I've read/heard from Welsh and Boyle say that they're not trying to lean too heavily on the first film, so again, I'm cautiously optimistic. (although by its release, it could turn into full-crazed "HOLY FUCK WHY ISN'T THIS OUT YET!" excitement)

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

I'm very cautiously excited about this. I loved Trainspotting in high school. But it's also one of those movies that's so anchored in its time and place (even though the film is set in the 80s, it's a very 90s movie visually, structurally, and thematically). It's really hard for me to imagine a Trainspotting set today. But I do have a lot of faith in Danny Boyle, and I got more than a little excited when Begbie (and Kelly MacDonald) came on screen in the trailer.

 

The trailer was obviously made to be a throwback to the original, but I hope they get away from the self-referential shtick they're using in the trailer and really try to make it its own film. Everything I've read/heard from Welsh and Boyle say that they're not trying to lean too heavily on the first film, so again, I'm cautiously optimistic. (although by its release, it could turn into full-crazed "HOLY FUCK WHY ISN'T THIS OUT YET!" excitement)

 

Agreed. The only thing that has me nervous are the sheer number of throwbacks to the first film: that image of Renton leaning on the car and laughing at the driver before being tackled is so iconic that to finish the trailer with the same image made me really antsy. Add to that showing a scene of the boys at the foot of Beinn na Lap (the mountain where the 'it's shite being Scottish' speech happens) and lots of slow-motion 'plunging into drugs' images (I love the one of Spud falling from the building though), and this one runs the great risk of being a retread.

 

With that said, like you say, Danny Boyle has only improved since the first Trainspotting, and everyone looks just like you'd think they'd look after 20 years (Begbie and Spud in particular!). Rents looks pretty healthy (it's that Star Wars money) and Sickboy hasn't changed much, but that's to be expected. Diane (god the crush I had on her) looks as you'd expect. I have faith that this won't be a crappy overhaul. I just hope that the issue throughout this film isn't just Begbie chasing Renton for putting him in jail 20 years ago. Let that be a scene but I really hope there's more to this than that. And while I love the update of 'Choose Life' to include the vacuity of modern life (and hearing Born Slippy again!), the worry is that this is just a 'what are they doing now? I wonder what Spud would tweet!' story.

 

I'm with you Fister Roboto. Full-crazed is likely.