Battle: Los Angeles Opening Weekend

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  • #46
    Re: Battle: Los Angeles Opening Weekend

    Tried reading the screenplay twice. Don't think I got past the 3rd pg. Couldn't understand who was who & what they were doing.

    Will rent the DVD for the hubby who has a higher tolerance for guns & aliens.

    "Trust your stuff." -- Dave Righetti, Pitching Coach

    ( Formerly "stvnlra" )

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    • #47
      Re: Battle: Los Angeles Opening Weekend

      Originally posted by Terrance Mulloy View Post
      Don't forget though - Ebert is also WAY past his used by date.

      I know it's his job to critique films, but why slam a film that's clearly not designed to cater to his demographic. I'm sure going in he already knows this wouldn't be his cup of tea, so why come out and slam it?

      This is the very reason why I hate the majority of film critics, and think most of them are just failed film makers with a grudge against the industry and huge chips on their shoulders. Not all of them - but a lot of them. It seems like a lot of them forget they're watching something designed to be entertaining for a global audience. You know, not every film needs to say something deep about the human condition - other than, "let's kick some alien scumbag ass." Sometimes that's all an audience wants out of a movie. Why is that so hard to understand for goons like Ebert?

      I don't think this film was ever trying to reinvent the alien invasion genre. I think they were simply trying to make an entertaining, kick-ass war movie, within the confines of your typical alien invasion movie.

      Why is that such a vile thing to Ebert?

      I know he's been in the biz for years, but why listen to one man's stunted opinion? Go watch it, make your own mind up.
      FWIW, Ebert wrote Beyond the Valley of the Dolls with Russ Meyer. I've been reading the man for years, and a lot of times I don't agree with him, but I seriously doubt the man is biased against trash film. I just get the vibe he gets frustrated when a trash film doesn't even measure up to its modest ambition.

      That said, from the trailers I get the impression that this is one of those films that hits the ground running and doesn't let up until the end credits. Which when in the zone, rocks my world. But if it's not firing on all cylinders it makes for some tedious time spent wasted watching visual white noise.

      I'm getting more Skyline than War of the Worlds here. Not to mention that I am well and truly bored at what passes for alien design today. Too cluttered, like the spaceships were assembled at a wrecking yard.
      "Forget it, Jake. It's Hollywood."

      My YouTube channel.

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      • #48
        Re: Battle: Los Angeles Opening Weekend

        Here's a review snippet from a film fan website. Now I can stomach this a lot more than Ebert purely because these guys really do get what the film is trying to acheive - despite its flaws.


        "Battle: Los Angeles is smart enough to know it's not that smart. It doesn't try to be too many steps ahead of its audience and for good reason. This isn't about intricately detailed plot journeys or ideologies grander than a sidewalk puddle.

        This is about full-force destruction and blowing stuff up. It's about being loud, exciting, and looking great while achieving both of those things, and that is precisely where Battle: Los Angeles succeeds. Or should I say, "tears it up?" You should never check your brain at the door. That's not what this preamble is about, but certain movies blast their way onto your eyeballs with such a fury that you almost forgive the plot holes, lame dialogue, and weak character development, all of which are on hand here.

        The film itself is a grunt. It has a job to do. It sets out to do that job, and it succeeds using maximum brutal force. The goal at hand here is to entertain, to give audiences two hours of exhilaration, to feed the video game appetites of action-craving masses. Where the film falters in story it all but makes up for in execution and design. Battle: Los Angeles is alien-blasting good fun, and that's all it claims to be. Had it set out for something greater and failed, no amount of aggressiveness or intensity could have saved it from backlash, but it's a good little soldier, and like a good little soldier it does its job exceedingly well."
        @TerranceMulloy

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        • #49
          Re: Battle: Los Angeles Opening Weekend

          Originally posted by Terrance Mulloy View Post
          Here's a review snippet from a film fan website. Now I can stomach this a lot more than Ebert purely because these guys really do get what the film is trying to acheive - despite its flaws.
          I don't really see what's your problem with Ebert's review. Ebert knows what the film tries to achieve, but he simply thinks it fails. For example:

          1. The film is supposed to be a SFX spectacle, but the SFX designs are consistently bad and even technically clumsy sometimes.

          2. It's supposed to be a visual spectacle, but it looks visually ugly.

          3. It's supposed to be a serious alien invasion movie, but the aliens are more amusing than threatening.

          4. It's supposed to be an action movie, but it has weak action sequences.

          ...I haven't seen the movie yet myself, but the points Ebert brings up are fundamentally important in a film like this. Audiences see a film like this because they want to see action and visual spectacle. And the whole point of Ebert's review is that the film fails in delivering good action and good visual spectacle.

          If that is not important, then what exactly is important?

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          • #50
            Re: Battle: Los Angeles Opening Weekend

            Originally posted by tuukka View Post
            I don't really see what's your problem with Ebert's review.
            Eh, don't mind me. I'm on a diet and have been grumpy/passive aggressive all week. However Ebert did have it coming.
            @TerranceMulloy

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            • #51
              Re: Battle: Los Angeles Opening Weekend

              Has a critic ever been sued for deformation?

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              • #52
                Re: Battle: Los Angeles Opening Weekend

                Originally posted by cshel View Post
                Extrapolating out from those on this board that like to bash L.A., I'd bet people will line up in droves just to see it get obliterated.
                There's just one problem. A lot of the movie was shot in the other LA. You know, the one with New Orleans and Baton Rouge in it.
                "Your intuition knows what to write, so get out of the way.-
                ― Ray Bradbury

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                • #53
                  Re: Battle: Los Angeles Opening Weekend

                  Originally posted by one seven spectrum View Post
                  Has a critic ever been sued for deformation?
                  I think Quentin Tarantino tried to sue god for deformation in regards to his giant forehead. Not sure if had any real legal standing though.

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                  • #54
                    Re: Battle: Los Angeles Opening Weekend

                    Originally posted by Archduke View Post
                    I think Quentin Tarantino tried to sue god for deformation in regards to his giant forehead. Not sure if had any real legal standing though.



                    Funny!
                    Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

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                    • #55
                      Re: Battle: Los Angeles Opening Weekend

                      Looks like Battle will open to under 40 million.
                      "I dub thee: Sir Non Sequitur." - sc111

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                      • #56
                        Re: Battle: Los Angeles Opening Weekend

                        It was okay.

                        I suspect what they were trying to do is take the combat vérité that opens Saving Private Ryan and sustain it over the course of an entire movie. Problem is, no one involved had the chops to pull it off.

                        So what we end up with an exercise in motion sickness. I generally don't have a problem with shaky-cam, but these folks don't know how to use it efficiently...sparingly being the key. There's no reason to exaggerate the shake of a handheld during a conversation about wedding plans (unless they were trying for a "Love is a Battlefield" joke). For that matter, they waste a lot of running time laying out background on a bunch of grunts that become indistinguishable from each other once they hit the dirt.

                        Also, the verisimilitude of combat feel is undermined by the soaring Hollywood soundtrack. They work against each other, and thrown together it just pushes the viewer away from the ol' suspension of disbelief.

                        Visually, there's nothing new here. Same ol' mecha-organic aliens, same ol' eyesore spacecraft that looks like they were assembled in a dump. A simulated lo-fi look that (along with the shaky-cam) kept my eyes from locking in on any given detail.

                        Absolutely no plot other than Marines trying to get civilians out of the city* and pausing to call in an missile strike on the alien command. Whether or not that's a plus or a negative depends on what you're looking for.

                        On the plus side, there were a few affecting moments, and some of the action setpieces actually worked. Just not in a big picture sort of way.

                        All in all, it was okay for a matinee...I wasn't bored, but I wasn't thrilled. I suspect it'd play better on home theater.

                        *Personally, I don't buy that if there was an invasion of this scale going down, the Powers That Be would waste time extraditing civilians. They'd just nuke it and worry about the fallout later.
                        Last edited by Signal30; 03-12-2011, 06:04 PM.
                        "Forget it, Jake. It's Hollywood."

                        My YouTube channel.

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                        • #57
                          Re: Battle: Los Angeles Opening Weekend

                          Originally posted by jkk808 View Post
                          Looks like Battle will open to under 40 million.
                          Yeah, it's meeting expectations of weekend grosses around $39M - Sony's 4th consecutive #1 filmdebut this year. I suspect is will be a 'moderate' hit. May not light the BO on fire, but it'll still make some money.
                          @TerranceMulloy

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                          • #58
                            Re: Battle: Los Angeles Opening Weekend

                            Originally posted by Signal30 View Post
                            Absolutely no plot other than Marines trying to get civilians out of the city* and pausing to call in an missile strike on the alien command. Whether or not that's a plus or a negative depends on what you're looking for.
                            Haha I've heard some compare it to Call of Duty before but now I'm really thinking they've been playing to much COD and BF2. They had to "Call in" a missile strike? Really? I imagine that call.

                            "We need a missile strike. Over"
                            "What's your target bravo. Over"
                            "That gigantic f*cking mothership, how can you not see it from your goddamn F16"
                            "How can you not see it from your goddamn F16 what? Over"
                            "You're a jack ass. Over"

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                            • #59
                              Re: Battle: Los Angeles Opening Weekend

                              Originally posted by Archduke View Post
                              Haha I've heard some compare it to Call of Duty before but now I'm really thinking they've been playing to much COD and BF2. They had to "Call in" a missile strike? Really? I imagine that call.

                              "We need a missile strike. Over"
                              "What's your target bravo. Over"
                              "That gigantic f*cking mothership, how can you not see it from your goddamn F16"
                              "How can you not see it from your goddamn F16 what? Over"
                              "You're a jack ass. Over"
                              FG ref?
                              "The Hollywood film business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." Hunter S Thompson

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                              • #60
                                Re: Battle: Los Angeles Opening Weekend

                                Originally posted by cshel View Post
                                FG ref?
                                Indeed....Over.

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