TOMORROWLAND (no spoilers)

[moviePig]

Early on, if you're old enough, TOMORROWLAND evokes a bit of effective
nostalgia from NYC's '64 World Fair -- but it's the closest this movie
ever gets to genuine emotion. For, this is a Disney confection -- a
big, expensive birthday card to 'the kid in all of us' -- and even its
'PG' rating is dubious for such a safety-first thrill ride. (E.g. a
couple of violent deaths manage somehow to ring alien, intrusive, and
sour all at once, like wasps at a christening.) Note, though, that the
visuals *are* actually pretty cool. This lavish flick was shot for 3D
post-conversion, and, had the studio followed through, I'd personally
have judged a movie-ticket money well spent. Only modestly recommended.

--

- - - - - - - -
YOUR taste at work...
http://www.moviepig.com

[Ted Nolan <tednolan>]

In article <564e0bf5$0$19893$c3e8da3$3a1a...@news.astraweb.com>,

Not a "bad" movie, but considering it was coming from
Brad "The Incredibles" Bird, one of the year's biggest letdowns..
--
------
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

[moviePig]

On 11/19/2015 12:57 PM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
> In article <564e0bf5$0$19893$c3e8da3$3a1a...@news.astraweb.com>,
> moviePig <pwal...@moviepig.com> wrote:
>>
>> Early on, if you're old enough, TOMORROWLAND evokes a bit of effective
>> nostalgia from NYC's '64 World Fair -- but it's the closest this movie
>> ever gets to genuine emotion. For, this is a Disney confection -- a
>> big, expensive birthday card to 'the kid in all of us' -- and even its
>> 'PG' rating is dubious for such a safety-first thrill ride. (E.g. a
>> couple of violent deaths manage somehow to ring alien, intrusive, and
>> sour all at once, like wasps at a christening.) Note, though, that the
>> visuals *are* actually pretty cool. This lavish flick was shot for 3D
>> post-conversion, and, had the studio followed through, I'd personally
>> have judged a movie-ticket money well spent. Only modestly recommended.
>

> Not a "bad" movie, but considering it was coming from
> Brad "The Incredibles" Bird, one of the year's biggest letdowns..

Plus, I trust I wasn't alone in finding the love interest creepy...

[Ronald O. Christian]

On Thu, 19 Nov 2015 12:50:40 -0500, moviePig <pwal...@moviepig.com>
wrote:

It was not "I want my money back" disappointing. More like "ok what
are we going to do the rest of the evening?" disappointing. I didn't
feel robbed at gunpoint, as I had with John Carter. Maybe mildly
swindled.

Perhaps that would be a good rating scale.

Worth what I paid for my car
Worth tickets and snacks for the whole family
Worth a box of theater popcorn and an extra large theater soda
Worth a box of theater popcorn
Worth the ticket price
Mildly swindled
Taken
Robbed at gunpoint
Carjacked by terrorists
City burned down, the land sown with salt.


Ron
-
2014 FLHTK "The Grey"

[Ted Nolan <tednolan>]

In article <564e13eb$0$1767$c3e8da3$f017...@news.astraweb.com>,

Yeah, and the denouement was a recognition of "we can't go there".

I mean her *mind* (or CPU..) was obviously as old as he was, but
(if they hadn't killed her off) they should have shown her getting a grown
up body upgrade to match..

[moviePig]

Well, they did warn us they were using tacky-ons...

[moviePig]

Meanwhile, though, I congratulate you and your little Dutch boy on being
able to withstand an extra large theater soda...

[Ronald O. Christian]

On Thu, 19 Nov 2015 13:57:50 -0500, moviePig <pwal...@moviepig.com>
wrote:

That's a great visual. I don't drink soda, at all. I usually get a
large water and share it with my wife, except for the places that
serve wine. (Finally, civilization comes to movie theaters!)

For John Carter, I had this nagging feeling throughout that after just
another glass of wine the movie would seem better. The movie never
got better and wife had to drive us home.

[Bill Anderson]

The previews made me think I'd love this one, but the reviews and other
reactions turned me off so completely that I'd totally forgotten about
it. I don't even want to Netflix it. HBO I suppose, maybe, if ever.

I have to report, though, that the 12-year-old inside is greatly pissed
at the current me.

--
Bill Anderson

I am the Mighty Favog

[Ted Nolan <tednolan>]

In article <GYydnenC-bpp_dPL...@giganews.com>,

The trailers were great. Kind of the opposite to "The Incredibles" which
had that awful "it's a story about fat superheroes" trailer that kept
at least one person I know from seeing it..

[Lewis]

In message <nu4s4b5kn79vm56u6...@4ax.com>
Ronald O Christian <ro...@europa.com> wrote:

> Taken

Taken

> Robbed at gunpoint

Batman and Robin

> Carjacked by terrorists

The Room

> City burned down, the land sown with salt.

Highlander II

--
No taxation without misrepresentation.

[moviePig]

Well, the 12-year-old and his superannuated descendant would've survived
TOMORROWLAND, but the 12-year-old would've learned to button his lip...

Interestingly, the HUNGER GAMES finale opens today, and will try to be
the first "cancelled 3D" movie (that I know of) to hugely succeed.

[Ronald O. Christian]

On Fri, 20 Nov 2015 07:14:16 -0000 (UTC), Lewis
<g.k...@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> wrote:

>In message <nu4s4b5kn79vm56u6...@4ax.com>
> Ronald O Christian <ro...@europa.com> wrote:
>
>> Taken
>
>Taken
>
>> Robbed at gunpoint
>
>Batman and Robin
>
>> Carjacked by terrorists
>
>The Room
>
>> City burned down, the land sown with salt.
>
>Highlander II

Didn't see The Room, agree with the rest.

See, this scale works!

[Obveeus]

Like the bulk of the teen aimed films out the last few years, the actual
story here is weak and surface-y. This film should have done better
than it did in the theater, but I don't feel bad at all about waiting
for it to come out on video as the ride was just too soft for me.

[moviePig]

I saw it only a few of weeks ago, but can barely remember the "story"...

[Ronald O. Christian]

On Mon, 30 Nov 2015 13:44:25 -0500, moviePig <pwal...@moviepig.com>
wrote:

I couldn't remember the story the next morning. Just bits and pieces.
It really didn't have a narrative you could talk about.

[Bill Anderson]

Life is full of surprises, and today presented a humdinger opportunity
for a guy who likes the movies to compare two films aimed at kids.

In brief, last night I ran out of things I really wanted to watch on TV,
so the kid in me settled for watching TOMORROWLAND on STARZ (I think),
which I'd caught on my DVR. I got about 10 minutes into it and decided
it was time for bed and I'd get back to this mess maybe someday if I
really had to.

Then, this morning, I got a call from my sister who reminded me that a
local museum with an Imax-sized but not-really-Imax screen was going to
show THE WIZARD OF OZ this afternoon and wouldn't I like to go with her
and four of her step-grandchildren? Well, sure, if I had a kid of my
own to take as an excuse, but I didn't have...oh, wait, I'll bet a
friend's 10-year-old nephew would like to see it -- and before I had
time to think this through I was shepherding a big bag of popcorn, two
soft drinks, a box of Milk Duds, and an excited little boy to a land
far, far away, behind the moon, beyond the rain. (Today's lesson
learned: Never give Milk Duds to a child whose baby teeth are loose.)

But we had a great time, all the kids LOVED the movie, and my little guy
(whose favorite scene turned out to be the Lollipop Guild) and his tooth
were blessedly reunited with his aunt by 6:00 pm. And then I went home
to check out the day's treasures on my DVR, which eventually led me back
to TOMORROWLAND.

Well what do you know? Two movies in one day in which the heroine is
transported to a strange land where she learns lessons of life. How
about that? And how instructive in the ways of moviemaking.

OZ is deservedly a classic, a straightforward story with terrific
production values, inspired songs and dialogue, and a corny but perfect
moral. It will remain a crowd favorite when it's 100 years old, which
won't be all that long, come to think of it.

TOMORROWLAND, on the other hand, is a convoluted mess of a movie, a
repository of hairbrained plot developments, a steaming pile of horse
pucky. I mean, I like a good kid's movie as much as any adult can, but
this thing was an insult to my intelligence from start to finish. I
could attack the movie from a number of directions, but it's easier just
to step back and observe that TOMORROWLAND was a collection of
half-baked story ideas that never coalesced, never made any sense, and
never engaged my imagination. So much effort wasted. TOMORROWLAND. Gah.

--
Bill Anderson

I am the Mighty What Makes the Hottentot So Hot Favog

[moviePig]

...which presents the question of 'Why?' E.g., are there no more good
stories, or storytellers? Iirc, OZ wasn't without its own share of
production snafus... so, was 1939 just the Sedona of filmmaking history?

[Obveeus]

WIZARD OF OZ is a lousy film. Maybe it was great for its day, but I'm
having a hard time believing that kids exposed to modern films with
farily coherent stories and decent acting would enjoy WIZARD OF OZ.

[moviePig]

You'd better check the weather report to see if there are any flying
houses headed your way...

I know Bill's little focus group is only a small sample, but I have no
trouble accepting his accuracy. I'd imagine that there *may* be some
brief phase in a modern childhood that would find OZ too corny (at least
in public) but, to either side of it, I'd think/hope most kids would be
pretty rapt.

[Bill Anderson]

Well we all have opinions and we're all entitled to them. What else to
say about this? I have no idea. I mean, even I don't try to claim
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA is a lousy film -- merely that I don't like it. So I
dunno.

>
> You'd better check the weather report to see if there are any flying
> houses headed your way...
>
> I know Bill's little focus group is only a small sample, but I have no
> trouble accepting his accuracy. I'd imagine that there *may* be some
> brief phase in a modern childhood that would find OZ too corny (at least
> in public) but, to either side of it, I'd think/hope most kids would be
> pretty rapt.
>

Actually there was an auditorium over half full of kids and adults who
were fully into it, laughing, shrieking, applauding at the end. It is a
superlative movie, a genuine treat for kids and adults alike.

--
Bill Anderson

I am the Mighty Favog

[Lewis]

In message <ncote6$e7v$2...@dont-email.me>

You're wrong.

--
A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

[Bill Anderson]

I admit I'm slow -- it did take a while -- but earlier today I was
thinking about the ending of TOMORROWLAND and I realized this movie is
ATLAS SHRUGGED for hippies. First I wondered what Calvin would have
thought of the movie, and then I wondered if anybody else had
experienced my almost certainly unique insight. Yeah sure, unique
insight, right.

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=tomorrowland+atlas+shrugged

--
Bill Anderson

I am the Mighty Favog

[moviePig]

There's nothing new under the sun. (Hey, I think I'll coin that...)