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 Freedom Writers [and, reluctantly Ghost Rider]
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BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."

Posted - 03/05/2007 :  18:19:52  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Have just seen a double bill of Ghost Rider and Freedom Writers. The former is an inane version of the Marvel comic ... I was going to say made flesh, but more like made flame Nic Cage must've really needed the money -- ok, I know Dostoevsky it ain't, but, geez-Loueez, some of the dialogue ... Cage could just about keep a straight face. Of course you bad boys are gonna be ogling Ms Mendez's cleavage, but ... well, hop to the hog from hell, if flaming skulls are yer thang, dude.

Freedom Writers, on the other paw ... well, what can I say, sometimes a 3-hanky movie is worth seeing, mush or not. There's mush aplenty here ... and

Chocolate Lady in particular

you should really see this for some potent socio-cultural parallels which I know will speak to you. BTW, it's based on a true story.

Anyone else seen either of these?

Rovark 
"Luck-pushing, rule-bending, chance-taking reviewer"

Posted - 03/05/2007 :  19:07:02  Show Profile  Reply with Quote

Ghost Rider
Better than Hulk, Daredevil or Elektra
Not as good as Spiderman, Batman or X men

You either like this stuff or you don't. For me it was a good way to pass a wet Sunday afternoon. But it should have been darker. A lot darker. A measly 12 certificate and dammit there were little 8 year old kiddies in there.

Oh and Cage did it 'cos he loves the whole comic book genre and especially Ghost Rider and actively sought this one out, so shame on you BBabe of all people for suggesting it was a paycheck movie

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silly 
"That rabbit's DYNAMITE."

Posted - 03/05/2007 :  19:21:38  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Yeah, Cage needed to make rent that month

I loved it, I was laughing all the way. I know it wasn't a comedy, but I did the same thing watching Dawn of the Dead recently - I appreciate the camp they put into it. Great popcorn movie (slightly burnt, of course). Some scary crap put in there just for audience reaction, like a scary guy jumping out and saying "boo" once in a while.

And Eva had my attention, much more enjoyable to look at then flaming skulls.

And I've always thought motorcycles should be able to climb buildings. Just sayin'
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Conan The Westy 
"Father, Faithful Friend, Fwiffer"

Posted - 03/05/2007 :  20:30:41  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
It was filmed in Melbourne so I had a lovely time recognising locations and local actors in bit roles. The big jump from goal to goal was actually in an AFL stadium - it was weird seeing field goals in there.
Did it resemble Texas at all?
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MisterBadIdea 
"PLZ GET MILK, KTHXBYE"

Posted - 03/05/2007 :  20:46:05  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I *hate* the camp elements of Ghost Rider. Good camp is stuff like Rocky Horror Picture Show or the '60s Batman -- stuff that's creative and goofy and energetic and profoundly their own thing. Things like Ghost Rider just piss me off. The camp elements in those are just the film not having the courage of its convictions. All they do is mock the premise -- ha ha, flaming skeleton on a motorcycle, what a stupid concept. It's only stupid because the people making the movie are stupid. Worst Marvel movie yet.
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benj clews 
"...."

Posted - 03/05/2007 :  21:32:15  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by MisterBadIdea

Worst Marvel movie yet.



Surely not worse than Fantastic Four??? (The recent version and especially the original low budget one from the mid-90s)

And yup, as extra clarification of how much this wasn't a paycheck movie for Cage, he's such a Ghost Rider nut he's even got a tattoo of the guy
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MisterBadIdea 
"PLZ GET MILK, KTHXBYE"

Posted - 03/05/2007 :  22:23:55  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by benj clews

quote:
Originally posted by MisterBadIdea

Worst Marvel movie yet.



Surely not worse than Fantastic Four??? (The recent version and especially the original low budget one from the mid-90s)]



Ooh, that's a toughie, forgot about Fantastic Four. Tough call, but I think I'm gonna stand by my judgment. Ghost Rider is worse.

The '90s one doesn't count.
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silly 
"That rabbit's DYNAMITE."

Posted - 03/06/2007 :  01:27:31  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I guess I'm not a "real" Ghost Rider fan. I can appreciate your concern over what they've done if you are, however. I just thought it was a nice popcorn flick.

quote:
Originally posted by Conan The Westy


Did it resemble Texas at all?



Which part of Texas? It was vague enough in terms of location that you could say "that might be somewhere here." The bluebonnets looked absolutely fake (but now that I say that, a botanist will jump in here and tell me how they helped with that scene and they were perfect. They just didn't look like any bluebonnets I've ever seen, which is quite a few) In fact, I didn't know they were supposed to be in Texas until he and that girl were hanging out and these creepy Star-trekish bluebonnets look like they're about to attack.

But I guess I was looking for landmarks in vain



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bife 
"Winners never quit ... fwfr ... "

Posted - 03/06/2007 :  04:15:16  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by MisterBadIdea

quote:
Originally posted by benj clews

Surely not worse than Fantastic Four??? (The recent version and especially the original low budget one from the mid-90s)]



Ooh, that's a toughie, forgot about Fantastic Four. Tough call, but I think I'm gonna stand by my judgment. Ghost Rider is worse.



Yep. Tragically, Ghost Rider is worse.

With Rovark though - it wasn't that it was hard to watch, but it just had so much more potential than it delivered. It was horribly average. It looked as if so little thought had gone into it, that it must have been a conscious decision that it just wasn't worth the effert of making it decent

Edited by - bife on 03/06/2007 04:15:44
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ChocolateLady 
"500 Chocolate Delights"

Posted - 03/06/2007 :  06:29:04  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by BaftaBabe
Freedom Writers, on the other paw ... well, what can I say, sometimes a 3-hanky movie is worth seeing, mush or not. There's mush aplenty here ... and

Chocolate Lady in particular

you should really see this for some potent socio-cultural parallels which I know will speak to you. BTW, it's based on a true story.

Anyone else seen either of these?



It hasn't come to Israel yet, but I'll keep an eye out for it.
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MisterBadIdea 
"PLZ GET MILK, KTHXBYE"

Posted - 03/08/2007 :  07:21:40  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
For what it's worth, this is how I'd rank the Marvel movies.

Spider-Man 2: ****
X2: X-Men United: ***1/2
Blade II: ***1/2
The Punisher: ***
Spider-Man: ***
X-Men: ***
Blade: **1/2
X-Men: The Last Stand: **
Hulk: **
Daredevil: *1/2
Elektra: *1/2
Fantastic Four: *
Ghost Rider: *

Yeah, Ghost Rider's right at the bottom. I have a huge list of things wrong with that movie:

1) The action scenes are meaningless. Both Ghost Rider and his enemies have limitless powers, so when one beats the other, we have no idea how or why.

2) Isn't Ghost Rider supposed to work for the devil? His only jobs seem to be punishing the wicked and beating up Satan's punk kid. How would his job be any different if he worked for the angels?

3) Goddammit, can someone give Wes Bentley a decent line of dialogue? ("You got a problem, buddy?" "Yeah... I do!!")

4) This is a minor nitpick but it bugs the living hell out of me -- Johnny Blaze stops his motorcycle in front of Eva Mendes's fan to force her to stop so that he can ask her out on a date. Mendes is both horrified and kind of charmed -- "You could have gotten yourself killed!" she exclaims. Yeah... and he also could have gotten her killed, if the van had swerved into a ditch or oncoming traffic.
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benj clews 
"...."

Posted - 03/08/2007 :  08:31:58  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
3 stars for The Punisher??? Good lord... it was truly awful.

I don't know what it is about Garth Ennis's stuff- it works great in comics but looks preposterous on the screen. Spakker Dave... Bumbo... and John Travolta didn't help
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Ali 
"Those aren't pillows."

Posted - 03/08/2007 :  09:17:52  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
The banter between Ben Grimm and Johnny was spot on in FF, as well as the latter's inherent cockiness. It was a flawed film, but as a franchise it's definitely not unsalvagable. In fact, all the footage from the second flick looks pretty awesome.

I adore Nic Cage, and not only because he is a shameless comic book nerd. The man named his first born Kal-El, for fuck's sake. That is just seven kinds of cool.

If you hadn't noticed, I love, love, LOVE comics. Just saying.
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Mr Savoir Faire 
"^ Click my name. "

Posted - 03/08/2007 :  09:20:16  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by benj clews

quote:
Originally posted by MisterBadIdea

Worst Marvel movie yet.



Surely not worse than Fantastic Four??? (The recent version and especially the original low budget one from the mid-90s)

And yup, as extra clarification of how much this wasn't a paycheck movie for Cage, he's such a Ghost Rider nut he's even got a tattoo of the guy



The FF from the nineties was only made so the studio could keep the rights to making a fantastic four movie. It was never meant to be seen.

Here's my list of marvel movies:

Spider-Man 2
X-men: the last stand
X-men 2
The Punisher
Spider-Man
X-Men
blade II
blade III
Blade
Hulk
Elektra
Fantastic Four
Daredevil
Howard the duck
Ghost Rider

The ultimate slap in the face having Howard above GR, I know, but Howard is at least kid friendly. I know dd is a little low as well, but I hated that movie. Colin's acting, ben afflecks acting, jennifer's acting, terrible even for a marvel movie. I also hated how on several occasions dd does stuf he obviously could not do if he was blind. For instance, in one seen, in a room he's never been in before, someone starts shooting at him and he dives behind a desk. I also found it stupid that his dad, a pro boxer, was killed by being beaten up.

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MisterBadIdea 
"PLZ GET MILK, KTHXBYE"

Posted - 03/08/2007 :  15:06:37  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I really don't understand all the flack The Punisher gets. It has an evil Johnny Cash, for Christ's sake.

Moreover, it's one of the few revenge pics with some actual guts. Take Gladiator, for instance. Commodus kills Maximus's family. Then Maximus kills Commodus. The end, everyone's happy. Yay, he killed Commodus. Eye for an eye, might makes right.

You don't go "yay" when The Punisher kills people. When The Punisher kills people, it's painful and you don't quite know who to cheer for. Revenge in this movie is a dish served cold and dark, it's not sanitized.
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demonic 
"Cinemaniac"

Posted - 03/08/2007 :  16:01:58  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Which "Punisher" are we talking about here folks? The truly awful 80s Dolph Lundgren version or the pretty awful 2004 Thomas Jane version?
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