I would really question the statement "he's as strong a candidate as any first-time director could be." Robert Orci has not only shown himself to be a truly terrible screenwriter (STID, Transformers: ROTF, Cowboys & Aliens), but he's also a 9/11 truther and conspiracy theorist, a man who's personal politics go against…

Nope, but given the caliber of creative talent involved I think its worth a vote of confidence. Plus, if it fails, its unlikely that it fails coz its bad, more likely, it'll fail because people don't want to take the risk. But here's my question: If the audience won't take a risk, why should Hollywood? If they see…

I'm gonna say this one time: If you're reading this article and don't go see Jupiter Ascending, I don't know what your problem is. An original sci-fi script. A goddamn space opera with A-List stars. A pair of directors who gave us the goddamn gift that was Speed Racer and made the motherfucking Matrix. On wide…

I understand it did OK in sales, but (as I've said elsewhere), I have been given to believe by various websites that the studio see it as something of a disappointment. Whether or not that is reasonable or not isn't my issue. I was merely saying that I am under the impression that at least part of the reason Batman is…

I apologize for my seeming inconsistency: My initial position was based on the reviews I had personally read, the majority of which were either negative or ambivalent towards the film. When you brought new data to light (the Rotten Tomatoes statistics), I modified my argument to reflect that fact. Based on the fact…

I don't know why you feel the need to insult me personally over this, but I'll try to explain myself: Based on some of the sites I read, I had heard that industry chatter had it that the studio weren't completely happy with MoS and wanted to boost the numbers for the sequel.
In addition, while many people enjoyed the…

Actually, as far as I'm aware, the studio do see it as a disappointment. These movies are expected to make closer to a billion in revenue. I may be wrong about that though. Also, I expect it won't do as well as on DVD given it's terrible reviews.

Maybe... or maybe MoS didn't make as much money as they wanted it to (mainly, I think, because of bad word of mouth) and they needed something to draw in audiences. Batman draws. It was either that or hire someone with a fucking clue about how to make a Superman movie, and this is cheaper.

The thing is, is that most of these have really obvious reasons to finance them: Armageddon & Day After Tomorrow are both from big budget directors, one of whom just came off two major sucesses (Micahel Bay's Bad Boys & The Rock) and the other with a history of drawing big box office for over-the-top movies. Sherlock…

Also he remortgaged his house to help finance the sequel. He really fucking loves that franchise.

Perfectly expressed sir! Even the simplest, most grounded stories are built from inventions or subjective memories: this is what makes them so powerful and important.

I would argue that if you keep poking, you're bound to find holes somewhere in any narrative. I mean, your example is a Doctor Who story, but there's hand-waving and holes in the PREMISE of that thing, so if you're looking to poke holes you're doomed before you start. Any narrative involves an initial suspension of…

Well then the social commentary is the message. You can't really have a narrative without some kind of message, be it a simple "don't do this" or a more complex "here's how I view society"

Right, but the problem is that Fincher spends about 75% of the movie making that shit look like the most goddamn appealing thing on the planet. He goes out of his way to paint Tyler as a kind of hero/anti-hero, and even when Ed Norton's life starts to spiral out of control because of it, he's kinda painted as a…

I have MASSIVE problems with the message of this film, as presented in the movie. And the movie itself has massive problems in terms of trying to get its message across.

I like how they opened with a Sigur Ros song, to remind us of how good we had it in the first movie, then hit us with that bullshit.

You're right, people do watch movies for all sorts of reasons, but the things that make those reasons work are not too different. How do you create a relateable character? Ground her in realistic emotions & themes? How do you make an intriguing mystery? Ground it in realistic emotions & themes. How do you make an…

I totally see what you mean. Yes, plotholes represent a kind of failure on the writers part in that cause-and-effect are a big part of storytelling and plotholes can (but don't always) spoil that. However, I don't think they are something that needs to be "forgiven" or made up for in other areas, mainly because I…

I think that's really selling yourself, the movies and entertainment in general short. A movie is not "dumb" because you can point out a couple of supposed plot holes in it after the fact (regardless of whether these holes are explainable or not), just as a movie is not "smart" because you are unable to pick it apart…

Now, I'm not that well-versed in this particular aspect of Cosmology, but it seems to me that the Eternal Inflation theory is completely indistinguishable from regular ol' inflation. As far as I can see all that you're changing really is the shape of the potential energy well that the inflaton sits in, but changing it…