Superheroes Generate Some Fantastic Weekend "Four" Play

Luke Terry

[b]Everyone relax...[/b]
Cripes folks, y'all need to take a breather. I used to get riled up over stuff like this too. Yes, there are always going to be the crap movies like F4 and even your much worse "Bad Boys II" and "3000 Miles to Graceland," but for every one of those films there is at least one "Aviator," "Batman Begins," or "March of the Penguins." Take the good with the bad.

I saw F4 this weekend, and I thought it was an excellent popcorn movie. It did what it set out to do, and that was entertain. Memorable? Maybe only Michael Chiklis, just because I'm a huge fan of his work.

We don't need to constantly degrade ourselves, but we also don't have to have a hissyfit.

Jul 17 - 01:12 PM

Phranq Tamburri

[b]I would ask FORGIVENESS from FOX and the F.F. !![/b]
I did something I now regret!
I am a 35 yr. physician who is, when the sun goes down, a cinema-buff/ hound like many of you... part time fan-boy, and past comic book collector (my favs are the ORIGINAL Ghost Rider and Moon Knight).
Anyway, I have 2 rules regarding movies.
1. I always read and in most cases agree with fan-boy sites (except AICN plants!)
2. I sometimes (emphasize sometimes) will sneak into my own double feature at a multiplex ONLY if I sincerely know (based off my excellent intuition, experience, and reviews) that the movie is NOT one that I would ever PAY to see. I have always been strict with this rule.

Well, .....

We paid for Batman Begins... then afterwards snuck in for the F.F. so we could leave if it REALLY sucked.
My "Tolstoy - lovin' " girlfriend was loyally but begrudgingly joining me for this comic book double feature. I kept preparing her (and myself) for how and why Tim Story and the greed at Fox caved in and F@%$$!! up Stan Lee's cherished last baby.

And then................ we laughed! We smiled at each other during the movie. The entire audience did too to my utter shock! We ACTUALLY enjoyed it! Well,..... we were both pretty cautious admitting it to each other until we got into the car. We (especially myself) were quite suprised! I asked her which she thought was better. Excpecting her to say Batman, I was shocked when my arthouse theater girlfriend said she liked them BOTH! She explained however that they were two completely beasts to do a fair comparison. Yes, it truly was NOT an Oscar pic, nor did Tim Story show the immersiveness and knowlege of the subject matter like Sam Raimi, but for overall enjoyment and for relating to a new aspect of the characters (the public reaction of the F.F. and the Things' "issues"), she thought the F.F. was very enjoyable! ... and then "IT" HAPPENED!!!!!!!!!!...............

We felt GUILTY!

I know how important the opening weekend numbers are. I also violated rule #2! I WOULD/Should have paid for two tix to see this! I have since felt very guilty. So my plan was to see Wedding Crashers (which I figured would also be crap) but PURCHASE tix to the F.F. so they would get credit for us. BUT.... Wedding crashers got great reviews so I can't do that either! Anyway, the next time I/we go to revisit Episode 3 I will buy F.F. tix to clear my conscience.

I only ask for someone from FOX or the F.F. production to respond and grant me forgiveness! And for the first time I honestly believe the overly anxious and occ. pretentious fan-boy crowd (of which I am a card-carrying member) 'got' this one wrong.. for too many reasons to further post.

Anyway, sure hope "they" don't F@%^$% up MY Ghost Rider next year.....HHhhhmmmmmm.

Healthy Regards

Jul 18 - 11:06 AM

Wesley Rice

[b]Clearing Your Conscience[/b]
Or you could buy the Fanatastic Four tickets and then NOT see another movie. THAT would be a good way of clearing your conscience. Buying tickets to a movie you didn't pay for originally and then seeing another movie is still stealing a movie, even if the new movie is a piece of crap. (why whould you want to see a piece of crap movie anyway?)

My suggestion: Go buy tickets for the FF, then leave the theater, rent a movie and stay home for the night with a clear conscience.

Jul 18 - 02:36 PM

Kevin Eisenberg

[b]OK OK[/b]
Im going to agree with the majority of critics with this one and say that this movie was a P.O.S. Now, am I angry that this movie was terrible? No. Am I really angry at anything? No. But I'm dissapointed in how much cash its raked in. A movie like this takes absolutley zero effort to produce, write and direct. And why yes, it is tedious to watch think-tank movies over and over again, its the fact that noone really tried to do anything with this movie that gets me. Its like everyone just gave up and said "If we promote it well, its going to do great!". And you know what, it did. When you see how much effort was put into BB, its almost dumbfounding that the rewards(cash) go to the movie that slacked off. For Batman they had to overcome the tremendous negative stigma which came from its Joel Shumacher (spelling?) past. This movie had a blank slate, added whiz-bang sfx and just gave up on trying to make it atleast marginally intelligent. There are certain rules that you have to follow to make a superhero movie believable or atleast watchable, stupidity as a result of sheer laziness should not be used instead.

Jul 18 - 07:14 PM