By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Movies & TV - John Carter - a great movie.

Very fun movie, I recommend it to anyone without a cynical attitude about films. If you go the the movies to laugh, get excited, and see things that can't happen than this movie is for you. I can't recommend John Carter enough. If you go to the "cinema" so you can pick apart the latest boring drama with your elitist hipster friends than go see some worthless pretentious art house "film" and leave the entertainment to those of us that still have the capacity to have fun.



Around the Network

movie looks like a stupid fantasy bore.



HesAPooka said:
RVDondaPC said:
This movie was horrible. I watched it with my brother this weekend who worked on the movie and he agreed it was god awful. We literally talked for hours after the movie was over about how bad it was. The acting was terrible. The Character development(or lack there of) was bad. It was soap opera acting at it's worst. The only two good actors in this movie were Willem Dafoe and Thomas Haden Church and they were both CG characters. It was shot terribly. The lighting and set dec was awful in many scenes. The action was mediocre and for a $200 million movie, it's bad. The CG and character animation was amazing though. It was the only element of this movie that was even close to top notch. I don't think Disney even had a budget to score this movie. They spent all their money on a year of reshoots and realized how bad it was that they just took generic theme music from their archives and added it to the movie. I reckon this will be the last time Disney let's an Animated film director and a TV actor, steer the ship of a $200 million live action movie.

If you don't know anything about movies though, you might be able to enjoy it. Sometimes I wish I didn't know anything about movies.


Brad Bird, Ghost Protocol. 

That movie came out last year, it's budget was $145 Million and it starred Tom Cruise. On top of that it was produced by JJ Abrams and part of a billion dollar franchise. How much ship steering do you think Brad Bird was doing? 

On a side note I just looked up what his next project is going to be on wikipedia. And it was a $200 million live action disney/pixar movie about the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake(Which sounds awesome). However it says that Brad has been working on rewrites to scale down the scope of the film(Which normally means budget) and it has also been suggested that the postponed start date is because Disney is concerned about the budget of the film. I mean if Disney is giving shit to Jerry Bruckheimer on the Lone Ranger which stars Johnny Depp and is directed by Gore Verbinski(Who ironically won the oscar for best animated film this year) for its budget, there is no way they don't trim this one down or replace Brad Bird with someone else or at the least cast an established movie star with a great supporting cast to help carry the film. 



RVDondaPC said:
HesAPooka said:
RVDondaPC said:
This movie was horrible. I watched it with my brother this weekend who worked on the movie and he agreed it was god awful. We literally talked for hours after the movie was over about how bad it was. The acting was terrible. The Character development(or lack there of) was bad. It was soap opera acting at it's worst. The only two good actors in this movie were Willem Dafoe and Thomas Haden Church and they were both CG characters. It was shot terribly. The lighting and set dec was awful in many scenes. The action was mediocre and for a $200 million movie, it's bad. The CG and character animation was amazing though. It was the only element of this movie that was even close to top notch. I don't think Disney even had a budget to score this movie. They spent all their money on a year of reshoots and realized how bad it was that they just took generic theme music from their archives and added it to the movie. I reckon this will be the last time Disney let's an Animated film director and a TV actor, steer the ship of a $200 million live action movie.

If you don't know anything about movies though, you might be able to enjoy it. Sometimes I wish I didn't know anything about movies.


Brad Bird, Ghost Protocol. 

That movie came out last year, it's budget was $145 Million and it starred Tom Cruise. On top of that it was produced by JJ Abrams and part of a billion dollar franchise. How much ship steering do you think Brad Bird was doing? 

On a side note I just looked up what his next project is going to be on wikipedia. And it was a $200 million live action disney/pixar movie about the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake(Which sounds awesome). However it says that Brad has been working on rewrites to scale down the scope of the film(Which normally means budget) and it has also been suggested that the postponed start date is because Disney is concerned about the budget of the film. I mean if Disney is giving shit to Jerry Bruckheimer on the Lone Ranger which stars Johnny Depp and is directed by Gore Verbinski(Who ironically won the oscar for best animated film this year) for its budget, there is no way they don't trim this one down or replace Brad Bird with someone else or at the least cast an established movie star with a great supporting cast to help carry the film. 

Well I've seen every movie Brad Bird has made and I've also seen every movie JJ Abrams has ever done, and they each have their own very distinct way of directing which is appearant from their movies. Watching JJ abrams movies is like watching a spielberg movie. They both love to move the camera around a lot from side to side or up and down. Brad Bird on the other hand is a completely different amimal and it's clear he was doing the steering.

Just because you disliked John Carter (which I wont comment on because I haven't seen the movie) and it was directed by someone who previously had only worked on animated movies doesn't mean all directors can't make the transition is all I am getting at, and I think Brad Bird is a prime example. Ghost Protocol is one of the best reviewed movies of last year and certainly an amazing action film. 

Like I said before I haven't seen John Carter since it doesn't really appeal to me, but the reviews haven't been terrible, and to be honest I've been hearing a lot of postive things so far. 

As far as Brads next project goes lots of directors agree to trim down budgets in order to have more control over how the end project will be shot. Frank Darabont cut down the budget for The Mist down to 18 million from I believe 60 million so he could have the ending he wanted. Clint Eastwood often finishes project under budget as well, and wraps shooting early. Bird is a capable movie maker and knows what he's doing. He knows that at 200 million a movie has a far less chance of making a profit which makes him look bad, if the same movie can be shot for 145 in the end it will only make him look better when it makes a higher profit. 

Oh, and one last point. A little director by the name of Tim Burton also started his career doing aimation. 



I was walking down along the street and I heard this voice saying, "Good evening, Mr. Dowd." Well, I turned around and here was this big six-foot rabbit leaning up against a lamp-post. Well, I thought nothing of that because when you've lived in a town as long as I've lived in this one, you get used to the fact that everybody knows your name.

Coca-Cola said:

I just watched John Carter - with not much anticipation, but was curious.

Watched the 3d version, and it was full of win.  Awesome movie.

Story was great - not very different than the book (I thought);  Acting was great, music was good - reminds me of the action movies from the 80's;  action scenes were great; did an awesome job of the set; costumes were awesdome as well; CGI was great (no wonder this movie cost $250m to make); just humorous enough, and the romance was believable - not that great but believable, and the twist at the end was very satisfying.  Great job by Bird - I believe this is his first live action movie

I give it a solid A.

I will be judging other movies for the rest of the year to this one.

If you haven't seen it, I recommend it.

It bombed at the box office in the States, but did very well in the foreign market.  Tells you something about American's taste in movies. (dumbed down).

I hope they wil make more John Carter movies.

Not very different story from the book?? Is that a joke? (Sorry, rant incoming) I hated this movie, mostly because I read the books. If you've never read the books, maybe it's an ok movie, but my feelings are very different. When I was young I found the series among my dad's old books and read them over and over. The names of characters are the same as the book, as well as a few small interactions. Everything else is different. The characters are NOTHING like they were in the books. The Tharks are nothing like they were in the books(other than physical appearance).

I don't understand how you can say "Tells you something about American's taste in movies. (dumbed down)." What wasn't dumbed down about this movie? They took every cliché in the book, (the figerative book, not the book the movie was based on) and added it in at the cost of the original story. There was nothing about this movie that wasn't standard action fare. I shudder to think how dumb you think american movie tastes are if this is in the "too intellectual" range.



Around the Network

What movie where you watching? The story has been done a million times before, the CGI was average at best and I wonder how the actors kept a straight face for most of it.

Must be the $ they get.... Honestly, to think this story spawned 10 sequels is beyond belief....



I liked your post, some people def take movies way too seriously.... But may I suggest there is some middle ground between John Carter fans and a hipster? Hey I like explosions, a good car chase (and art flicks) but the problem with this movie is it's all been done before...and better... If I want to sit around laughing I fart in the bathtub.



I heard it was pretty meh. Me and my friends decided to watch project X. It was actually pretty fun. Mindless, chaotic, boob-filled fun. John Carter, feels like it's trying too hard.



"Trick shot? The trick is NOT to get shot." - Lucian

tripenfall said:

What movie where you watching? The story has been done a million times before, the CGI was average at best and I wonder how the actors kept a straight face for most of it.

Must be the $ they get.... Honestly, to think this story spawned 10 sequels is beyond belief....


First of all, the movie was SO FAR from the book it was based on, it's not even funny. Secondly, the first book was written in 1917, so alot of its themes weren't so overused back then.



The previews showed a big CGI fight à la Star Wars prequels so I probably won't be watching it anytime soon.



Signature goes here!