John Carter the movie

Hugh R · 03-09-2012, 07:46 AM

Post your thoughts if you see it. I worked on it last year.

masraum · 03-09-2012, 07:49 AM

My wife loves the books. She's a bit trepidacious about seeing the movie. She's afraid that the story has gotten lost in action and SFX.

kaisen · 03-09-2012, 07:50 AM

We plan to Hugh, based on your enthusiasm having worked on set. We'll let you know!

stomachmonkey · 03-09-2012, 07:55 AM

Read all the books as a teen.

May have to reread the 1st couple before seeing the movie but do intend to catch it.

asphaltgambler · 03-09-2012, 10:40 AM

The local dc/Md/Va rag (washington post) completely panned it today. 1 star out of possible 5. The gist was that if your evening came down to rotating the winter air out in your tires and seeing this movie - it'd be toss up.

Also a local young and credible movie reviewer who appears fridays on one of the network morning news stations panned it as well......................................

GH85Carrera · GH85Carrera's Garage

Man I read all the books when I was a kid. Even then I thought they were kind of goofy.

I loved the Lensman series of EE Doc Smith but I thought those were just a little far out as well. I fell in love with the hard science fiction of Asimov & Clarke.

I hope to see the movie at the theater.

Hugh R · 03-09-2012, 12:18 PM

After the weekend I'll post some pics/comments on the making of it. Andrew Stanton, the Director is personally a really nice guy. He co-owned Pixar with Steve Jobs, and is young and a billionaire. It was his first live action movie, prior to that he'd only done animated like "Finding Nemo". Negative comments don't phase me, I had nothing to do with the creative end of it.

algs911 · 03-11-2012, 07:22 PM

I'm a fan of the books as well. I saw the movie on Friday night. I had very low expectations, but I wanted to support the movie anyway. So...

I really liked it actually!!! I was very surprised. Sure, it felt rushed, but it's only two hours. I really thought the story was well adapted for the screen, the characters were pretty good (although I still have a hard time with the "Conan" costumes). I enjoyed seeing the interpretations (special effects, creatures, etc.). I'd like to see it again so I can get the full picture, and I prolly will this week.

Thanks for working on it! I think it's a pretty good sci-fi flick and a descent adaptation of the book. Sure, I've seen better movies, but this was not nearly as bad as it really could have been.

Al

red-beard · red-beard's Garage

I just saw "Princess of Mars" today on Sci-fi. I hope the Disney is better. Traci Lords is still hot...

Hugh R · 03-11-2012, 08:04 PM

Glad to hear. We spent stupid money on locations in Utah that were hours from the hotels/motels, like 3 hours each way to locations each and every day. I have to give the Director credit that he tried to shoot in Utah lands with less permit restrictions than BLM lands. But still, it was a challenge.

Evans, Marv · 03-11-2012, 08:15 PM

My wife & I saw it today (3D). I'm a sucker for science fiction and special effects. I liked it on that basis. I would describe the movie as "fun" and pretty standard. I enjoyed it but it wasn't anything earth shaking, but something doesn't have to be epic for me to enjoy it. I understand it was adapted from a book, but the story was the usual. My wife always says I like anything and anybody too much. I read tons of science fiction when much younger but haven't read these.

Schumi · 03-11-2012, 08:28 PM

I'm not planning on seeing it any time soon, but I will say that the first trailer that came out for it, with the music by (I think it was) Peter Gabriel was absolutely one of the most amazing trailers I'd ever seen.

fred cook · fred cook's Garage

Like the others, read the books when in high school. After finding out about the "John Carter" movie, bought the books for my Kindle and re-read them for a refresh of the characters involved. The wife and I went to see the movie on Friday afternoon and enjoyed it very much. We both wanted to bring Woola (the dog) home with us! Other than the bit about how John Carter got to Mars in the first place, the rest of the movie followed Edgar Rice Burroughs stories fairly well. The special effects/computer imaging were quite good and the sword play was first class. If I can get my son home for a weekend, I wouldn't mind seeing it again. First class sci-fi flick with a little Earth history thrown in for good measure!

herr_oberst · 03-12-2012, 04:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hugh R

..... We spent stupid money on locations in Utah that were hours from the hotels/motels, like 3 hours each way to locations each and every day. ......

You drive back and forth each day during a shoot like this? I'm surprised they just don't haul trailers out for the crew and talent. . . .

Do the Bryan Cranstons' and Willem Dafoes' get helicopters?

techweenie · techweenie's Garage

I was a fan of the books, but almost everything in them was stolen for the last 30 years of Sci Fi/adventure movies, so the trailers just looked like a bunch of recycled snippets of Star Wars and Cowboys & Aliens. Still, I'll give it a chance. The marketing for these movies is often wrong, and judging by last week's box-office results, it was way wrong on John Carter.

red-beard · red-beard's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by techweenie

I was a fan of the books, but almost everything in them was stolen for the last 30 years of Sci Fi/adventure movies, so the trailers just looked like a bunch of recycled snippets of Star Wars and Cowboys & Aliens. Still, I'll give it a chance. The marketing for these movies is often wrong, and judging by last week's box-office results, it was way wrong on John Carter.

Kind of like I-Robot. But I-Robot was still extremely well done! I expect I'll try to see it in about 10 days, if it is still at the theatre. It is Spring Break for K-12 this week and everything like that will be a zoo.

Zeke · 03-12-2012, 12:56 PM

Well, the trailer regarding the beginning in AZ territory on YouTube pulls you in. Too bad it didn't just stay on that theme.

Hugh R · 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

You drive back and forth each day during a shoot like this? I'm surprised they just don't haul trailers out for the crew and talent. . . .

Do the Bryan Cranstons' and Willem Dafoes' get helicopters?

It started out insane, like three hour motoring up lake Powell to THE canyon the Director wanted everyday for a month. They kicked around houseboats, and living on the Lake for a month. Stupid producers thought if a houseboat could sleep 12 they could do that, they didn't realize that was two per bed, not gonna happen in a work/ Union environment. Also food trash, sanitary waste for a month? Hello!

We ended up bringing in high speed boats from the Grand Canyon. They were in the Ape arena and wanted to bulldoze about 10 acres of scrub. The BLM said no and when pressed the BLM said the "scrub" was about 500 years old and it wasn't going to happen.

I'm in Vancouver,BC this week for a couple of TV Pilots with my iPad, I'll post some behind-the-Scenes pics when I get back from my laptop.

Eric 88 Carrera · 03-12-2012, 07:06 PM

I saw the 10 minute extended trailer in the AZ territory. Well done but disappointing. This was not the Edgar Rice Burroughs John Carter - he was transformed into a PC anti-war Lefty.

The John Carter of the novels was always honorable. He was transported to Mars after he and his mining partner were ambushed by Indians not after being captured by Union Calvary and uttering a Leftist anti-war diatribe. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since this was a Disney production.