Production designer Dennis Gassner: "I have one fallback position: when in doubt, make it beautiful."
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Behind the scenes of The Electric State
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I'll still watch it for the visuals, and enjoy myself, but it's such a shame they couldn't really bring this one to life.
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This is like Sneider all over again. They keep giving these losers money and they keep turning in steaming piles with a few interesting visuals. Stop it! Do better, Hollywood
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At least the Top Critics blurbs there are pretty funny, though!
"Its lights are on, but no one's home."
"The movie is obvious, garish and just plain dumb."
"the latest in the tradition of unfathomably expensive streaming titles that feel like they were designed by an algorithm and assembled in a factory."
Oh well. Another book ruined by utter schmucks, I guess.
The previous adaptation of Stålenhag's work, Tales from the Loop, was soo excellent! Now this.
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Interesting. I saw the card on Netflix last night, with Pratt featured prominently, and figured it was crap. Looks like I was right.
Also, honestly? I feel like whenever there's a BTS about a movie on Ars, the movie is usually crap. Eg The Creator, although that's the only other one I can point to so maybe I'm wrong.
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A total snoozefest of tired tropes… I skimmed it in 20 minutes which felt about right.
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Saw it last night. And never read the original. In my opinion, the books are always better than their movie or TV counterparts. Always. I ascribe that to our intelligence and imagination that the author invokes.
But I was distracted for two hours for two hours. Also made me put Tales from the Loop on my schedule. I’ve seen worse.
But I was distracted for two hours for two hours. Also made me put Tales from the Loop on my schedule. I’ve seen worse.
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Where did this story come from? Did Ars approach the studio, or the other way round?
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This article reads a bit like it’s been cobbled together from bits off a media kit. No interviews, no opinions about the film… Is the movie worth a watch?
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I mean, I bought the book for the art. The story was a bonus. I thought I might put this on, mute it, and disable the captions.
But having Chris Pratt running around would be distracting, and I assume you'll get a ANSI-standard Hollywood ending.
Truly an inspired artistic vision right here.
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I thought it was entertaining; the visuals were very good and the CGI was effective. It certainly wasn't a stand-out movie but it was better than the usual Netflix Films. Probably one of those films where you want to watch the movie before reading the book though.
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OT, the winner of the best animated film Oscar went to a Latvian movie called Flow, made entirely in Blender. If you want to review an absolutely beautiful film, this would be that film.
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Honestly it's worth a watch. It's a great piece of 80/90's kid's movie nostalgia. Not every movie has to be high art to be worthwile.
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I think so, visually stunning, lots of nostalgia, CGI was well done, does the story and acting live up to the Ars critics, of course not but I enjoyed it.
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Dunno about that.. If anything keeping the tone and look of the original would be natural, but what do I know.
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HuntingManatees
Ars Centurion
Zack Snyder at least has some thematic consistency throughout his filmography, and he's clearly enthusiastic about the medium in a way that shines through the constant stylistic flourishes. It's just that his enthusiasm is that of an indoor child smashing action figures together until their heads snap off.
Snyder is a bit like Michael Bay in that respect, although at least "Pain & Gain" and "Sucker Punch" are clearly personal works and trying to say . . . something.
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Both books are mostly visuals. Between the two Tales are more striking and memorable. Coincidentally, its adaptation is also better, but it's also really quite gloomy, almost depressing. I wouldn't watch it again.
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"I have one fallback position: when in doubt, make it beautiful."
well, failed on that one
well, failed on that one
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hard hitting journalism and critique as usual. Just kidding. It's been widely considered a huge failure and an expensive flop, which makes this uncritical glad-handing all the more bizarre.
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They're not going to stop because this is what gets views. How do I know? They keep making them.
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Regardless of what you think about how a movie turns out, it can still be very worthwhile and interesting to learn about the production - a lot of thought, work and skill goes into movies and it often happens that the whole is less than the sum of its parts.
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MedicinalGoat
Ars Centurion
If you really need a film adaptation of the original work go watch Tales From the Loop instead.
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Chris Pratt is a huge red flag by himself.
Not watching a movie with this right christian fascist douchebag?.
Not watching a movie with this right christian fascist douchebag?.
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Many fans of a work want any adaptation to conform with their internal vision of how they believe it should have been made, without regard for technical, financial, or practical limitations, and pieces that get into the choices made by those adapting the work are only valid to the extent they align with that vision.
Anything that gives voice to a filmmaker without acknowledging A True Fan's expectation is a shill, parroting puffery.
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Maybe a republican but not a Republican, in my cursory searching- A former Democrat (?) now "independent" in a way that codes as a kind of inane, enabling (possibly self-serving but not necessarily ill-intentioned) centrism.
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I was actually making a guess due to the tantrum that the OP was throwing.
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Disappointed with this adaptation. I was really hoping for a more bleak/grey approach like the book(art book?) brings you. Something like The Road only except father and son crossing across what's left of the US, it would be young woman and robot. I knew they had a challenge on their hands in adapting this as the source material is so ambiguous but yeah. Visually great (although too bright in comparison to the book) but just not a very compelling story imo.
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Sorry to break it to you but Hollywood can't do better. Hollywood is the recycling center of the entertainment industry where things go to be recreated, reused, recycled, rebooted, refurbished, etc. So it makes sense that the quality of what's produced and released just isn't there and hasn't been for a long time. Though there are a few pieces of some quality that come out from time to time. Ya know what they say about a broken clock or a blind squirrel...
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