John Carter reviews

POSTED BY: chrisisall
UPDATED: Sunday, April 1, 2012 14:03
VIEWED: 18231
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RIONAEIRE

Thursday, March 15, 2012 6:28 PM

I thought it was funny Chris.

Maybe I should read the book, I did like the movie enough to make the book seem like a cool idea, even if his ascent to Mars was totally weak as shown above. I like it way better if they go to sleep, or get electricuted, or fall off of something in order to get somewhere, some of my favorite girlhood movies are like that, Split Infinity, Young Connecticut Yankee etc.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

CHRISISALL

Thursday, March 15, 2012 6:54 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by RionaEire:
I thought it was funny Chris.

Thanks Rio!

It's pretty interestingly written IMO.

The Mal-like Chrisisall

TWO

Thursday, March 15, 2012 7:56 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by RionaEire:
Maybe I should read the book, I did like the movie enough to make the book seem like a cool idea, even if his ascent to Mars was totally weak as shown above. I like it way better if they go to sleep, or get electricuted, or fall off of something in order to get somewhere, some of my favorite girlhood movies are like that, Split Infinity, Young Connecticut Yankee etc.

In the 6th John Carter book, The Master Mind of Mars, Ulysses Paxton gets transported to Mars off a battlefield in World War One in the same general fashion as John Carter. Paxton and Carter will meet.

Edgar Rice Burroughs, John Carter 6 - The Master Mind of Mars (Kindle Locations 36-37). Kindle Edition.

Quote:
It was a long time before I found the moral courage and the physical strength to draw myself up upon one elbow that I might view the havoc that had been done me.

One look was enough. I sank back in an agony of mental and physical anguish—my legs had been blown away from midway between the hips and knees. For some reason I was not bleeding excessively, yet I know that I had lost a great deal of blood and that I was gradually losing enough to put me out of my misery in a short time if I were not soon found; and as I lay there on my back, tortured with pain, I prayed that they would not come in time, for I shrank more from the thought of going maimed through life than I shrank from the thought of death.

Then my eyes suddenly focused upon the bright red eye of Mars and there surged through me a sudden wave of hope. I stretched out my arms towards Mars, I did not seem to question or to doubt for an instant as I prayed to the god of my vocation to reach forth and succor me. I knew that he would do it, my faith was complete, and yet so great was the mental effort that I made to throw off the hideous bonds of my mutilated flesh that I felt a momentary qualm of nausea and then a sharp click as of the snapping of a steel wire, and suddenly I stood naked upon two good legs looking down upon the bloody, distorted thing that had been I. Just for an instant did I stand thus before I turned my eyes aloft again to my star of destiny and with outstretched arms stand there in the cold of that French night—waiting.

Suddenly I felt myself drawn with the speed of thought through the trackless wastes of interplanetary space. There was an instant of extreme cold and utter darkness, then—But the rest is in the manuscript that, with the aid of one greater than either of us, I have found the means to transmit to you with this letter. You and a few others of the chosen will believe in it—for the rest it matters not as yet.

Download The Master Mind of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs http://bit.ly/wNw5rK

The Joss Whedon script for "Serenity," where Wash lives, is
Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/two

GEEZER

Thursday, March 15, 2012 9:44 PM

Madame Geezer and I went to see John Carter yesterday, so I've avoided this thread until now.

I first read A Princess of Mars when I was eight, and have read pretty much everything ERB ever wrote multiple times, so I guess I'm kind'a a Burroughs wonk.

Changes were obviously made to the story, the 'brooding loner who lost his family' backstory and the wizard-powerful Therns being the most obvious. I could have done without those, but see how it might appeal to modern sensibilities. Various bits that were the books were sometimes shuffled around and re-ordered as well. There were also the issues related to gravity and falling rates that others have mentioned, but that'd be hard to get a handle on in the live-action portions of the film without turning it all into CGI. Gotta suspend that disbelief sometimes.

However, the movie did seem to me to be pretty true to Burroughs' vision of Mars and the beings who inhabited it. The landscape, cities, ships, etc. seemed pretty much as I'd always thought.

The Green Martians, particularly, were almost exactly as I had envisioned them, and the moviemakers managed to have fun with the ability to use four arms in a few clever scenes, but worked it in so seamlessly that after a while it became almost normal, rather than a gimmick.

I agree with others that the trailers I saw weren't the kind that would have gotten me into the theater if I didn't already know the story was better than just fighting white apes in the arena.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie thoroughly, and will probably go see it again.

"Keep the Shiny side up"

CHRISISALL

Thursday, March 15, 2012 10:14 PM

Geezer, my man- excellent review. Spot on, in point of fact.
Personally, I would have made it PRECISELY according to the book(s), but I guess they came as close as they could, given the committees & money involved...

The Mal-like Chrisisall

ECGORDON

Monday, March 19, 2012 12:41 AM

Chris, I've changed my mind (somewhat). I went to see it again today and just uploaded my review.

http://templetongate.net/johncarter.htm

I still don't think it will have much longevity, but it would be nice if it does well enough overseas and on video to justify a sequel.

CHRISISALL

Monday, March 19, 2012 1:00 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by ecgordon:
http://templetongate.net/johncarter.htm

Very good review IMO! It was by no means a perfect film, but you nailed its both positive & negative aspects.
Except that you didn't mention how hot Dejah was, LOL.

The Mal-like Chrisisall

WISHIMAY

Monday, March 19, 2012 11:16 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by ecgordon:
I still don't think it will have much longevity, but it would be nice if it does well enough overseas and on video to justify a sequel.

Wouldn't count on it

http://news.yahoo.com/disney-says-john-carter-lose-200-million-2046329
87.html

That'd have to be a LOT of videos...

CHRISISALL

Tuesday, March 20, 2012 12:44 AM

Disney is dead then. Cool.

The Mal-like Chrisisall

HKCAVALIER

Tuesday, March 20, 2012 6:53 AM

Okay, this is completely nuts. Just 10 freakin' days into the movie's run, the production company responsible for it, is telling the world: you aren't going to see this movie???

What now, are they gonna pull it? This is unbelievable. The movie had the WORST ad campaign I can remember (hey, at least people got as far as "Buffy in space" with Firefly), where most people I talk to about it say, "I had no idea what that movie was about!" And now, because they did such a shitty job of preselling it they're throwing in the towel? Cut a new trailer! Do something! Anyone know what the they are thinking here???

HKCavalier

Hey, hey, hey, don't be mean. We don't have to be mean, because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are.

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