Best / least bad blockbuster of the year

[Grand Moff Muffin]

So far I've seen Wolverine, Star Trek and Terminator.

My favourite is Wolverine, which I expect to pick up on DVD. Terminator in second place - enjoyed, but may not ever watch again. Star Trek - poor.

Earlier in the year I saw The Spirit and Watchmen, both of which are fading fast from my memory, but I know they were both rather pretentious and tried to be cleverer than the superhero genre warrants.

I wonder where Transformers will figure in my enjoyment table. Probably higher than it deserves because I'm biased by nostalgia.

How do other people rank the blockbusters of 2009 so far?

Martin

[Bogatan]

Loved Star Trek. Terminator was ok. Avoided Wolverine. Watchmen I just saw on the plane home. Enjoyed it a lot, but dont know if I'll buy on DVD. More likely I'll buy the graphic novel.

I suppose it doesn't quite fit the Sci-fi blockbuster tag, but Pixar/Disneys Up blew my mind when I saw it on holiday. It's technically sci-fi and truly deserves to be seen by enough people to make it a blockbuster (and will do so without doubt) so Up makes the top of my list by some distance. From what I saw of Transformers it's going to be great if, as I did, you liked the first one but its not going to be close to Up.

Andy

[The Doctor]

Watchmen: boring.
Star Trek: boring.
Wolverine: dreadful.
Terminator Salvation: enjoyable bollocks.

-Ralph

[Deleted]

I'll have to watch more recent films. None of the ones mentioned above I have seen but someone at work says that Star Trek is excellent.

[legios]

Hmmm. In terms of the skiffy films so far I haven't seen many of them. (Couldn't face going to see "Watchmen" as the idea of making a film of it has always struck me as missing the point a bit, "The Spirit" I avoided as I have a pronounced allergy to Frank Miller these days, and I haven't had a chance to see "Terminator: Salvation" as yet).

But so far I would have to say that I found "Star Trek" to be perfectly competent at what it wanted to be, just not really to my tastes. It had a good opening sequence, but then the film proper started and I found myself progressively losing more and more interest.

"X-Men Origins: Wolverine" I thought was quite woeful. It being shot on digital video didn't really do it any favours in terms of looking "cinema ready", and I found myself terribly bored by generally. Also, given that this was a film whose main characters schtick is that he has built-in stabbity's and fights people they could really have done with a much better fight choreographer than they had.

Looking forward to seeing if "Terminator: Salvation" can stomp its way to the front of the pack so far once I get a chance to see it.

Karl

[Fortmax2020]

Star Trek: Excellent.
Wolverine: Good enough.
Terminator: Ho hum.
Watchman: Ok.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

What a marvellous lack of consensus.

Maybe that's par for the course with this sort of popcorn-fodder.

Martin

[grahamthomson]

I have only seen Terminator and Star Trek so far this year.

I wouldn't have chosen to see Star Trek, but I found it more enjoyable and warmed to the characters more than I did Terminator. And Christian Bale, when using his Batman Voice (even when talking quietly to his pregnant girlfriend), annoyed me no end.

So, so far Star Trek is my favourite.

[Hero]

Wolverine is my favourite so far with Star Trek and Watchmen in second and third places.

Looking forward to Tarrantino's Inglorious BastErds as well as ROTF.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Jun 8, 2009 11:19:36 GMT Hero said:

Wolverine is my favourite so far

Your taste in silly blockbusters RULES.

Martin

[jameso]

The Spirit: Bad
Watchmen: Good
Wolverine: Bad
Star Trek: Very good
Terminator: Alright.

[Shockprowl]

Star Trek- Very Good, not perfect, but left me wanting more.
Wolverine- Excellent Super Hero romp!


Hu, is that all I've seen this year? Damn.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Updated list in descending order:

Wolverine - good, though not as good as first two X-Men films - looking forward to DVD so I can see again repeatedly in full

Transformers - plenty of entertaining bits in it, met expectations - looking forward to DVD so I can see good bits repeatedly whilst skipping the Twins, Sam's mum and Decepticon talky bits

Terminator - fun action flick - will enjoy re-watching when it comes on telly, but not special enough to get on DVD

Watchmen - trying to be too clever with what should be left a silly genre - deadened by the blue guy's smug angst

Star Trek - no originality whatsoever - removed all the cheesy charm and creativity from the franchise and turned into generic space epic, same as what's happened to James Bond - not as bad as films 1, 9 and 10 in series, but that's not saying much

The Spirit - fading fast from my memory - too pretentious and stylised

Looking over the above list, I think a pattern emerges in that I'm enjoying films that deliver on entertainment, fun and adventure, and don't try to pretend they're doing something clever. Action is action, fantasy is fantasy. If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it just for the sake of being 'modern'.

Martin

[The Doctor]

I shall update my own list then. Personally, what makes a good action film for me is when the action bits progress the plot and involve character the script/actors have taken pains to make you care about. I don't differentiate between, say, 'action' films and 'drama' films, etc. Action is just something that sometimes needs to happen to tell a story rather than a bolt-on element.

In order of viewing this year:

Watchmen: The graphic novel put on screen pretty much intact, but a story that was compelling on paper is boring on screen. Not a film I will watch again. 10 out of 10 for effort though.

Star Trek: Didn't give me a compelling reason why Star Trek needed to come back. Didn't bring anything new (compare to the Doctor Who relaunch with fired a rocket up the ass of the concept) and felt like reheated 40-year old ideas. The constant action-action-action was initially good but became boring as there wasn't room for the story to breathe. Casting was variable. Only Trek movie I've only seen once in the cinema, which is quite damning coming from me!

Wolverine: It was clear interesting ideas had left the x-men series with the previous instalment, so I was just looking for silly nonsense but it bored me shitless. Dull direction, dull score and not enough humour. Not one to watch again.

Terminator Salvation: Enjoyable nonsense. Not that great really but a relative shining star amidst a season of shite and a decent popcorn flick. Lacked the visceral nightmarish qualities of the original or the mythology building of the second but kept the attention and the action scenes were fun to watch. Wouldn't buy the DVD but would watch again in company with beer.

Transformers: Revenge of Fallen Dave: : Really disappointed by this. Some fun TF characters but overall pretty boring and I found the humour rather purile and embarrassing to watch at times.

Not a great year for films yet, though I have been to the cinema far less that I usually do due to personal financial issues so I may have missed a few gems.

-Ralph

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Jun 20, 2009 9:38:08 GMT The Doctor said:

I shall update my own list then. Personally, what makes a good action film for me is when the action bits progress the plot and involve character the script/actors have taken pains to make you care about. I don't differentiate between, say, 'action' films and 'drama' films, etc. Action is just something that sometimes needs to happen to tell a story rather than a bolt-on element.

I see where you're coming from, but admit I'm a lot less discriminating, particularly on that last score. James Bond is my classic example - at their best, I would say they come close to being the finest products of the cinema industry - and yet in my favourite Bond films the characters are all unrealistic and larger-than-life, the hero unflappable and invulnerable, the plot largely irrelevant, and the joy in gratuitous set pieces and outrageous situations.

If I want intelligent plotting and character development, I will tend to look to another medium - novels or TV serialisations - or at least demand a story that spans a trilogy of films, or at very least a movie 3 hours in length. When I go to see a 2-hour movie on the big screen, I guess I do rate style as taking precedence over substance. When they try for substance, I usually find myself frustrated that it's confined to a 2-hour format rather than letting the story breathe in a TV series.

Of course, you can make characters that the audience will care about in a shorter space of time, but you can't really get to grips with their whole lives in the way you can in a novel or TV series. So on the cinema screen I'll happily settle for likeable actors with well-written dialogue, dropped into spectacular situations, and let the spectacle carry the thing.

Martin

[dyrl]

I guess I'm going to be alone in voting for Terminator: Salvation.

I thought the Marcus sub-plot was exceptionally well thought up; the whole theme of mankind being able to redeem itself if one individual is also capable of it. The gritty post-apocalyptic settings and the utterly hopeless plight of humans whenever they DID come up against machines. I thought the movie was compelling and a fitting continuation of the Terminator lore.

Plus my girlfriend cried through the whole movie and thanked me for getting her to see it, which is rare.

So - Terminator Salvation for best sci-fi movie of the year by leaps and bounds.

Oh wait.

I haven't seen any other sci-fi movie this year....

oops

Pete

[Gav]

My thoughts:

Watchmen: I wasn't bowled over to be honest. Being a big enough fan of the graphic novel to purchase the Absolute Watchmen tome - I was expecting it to really click with me. The choice of songs absolutely killed the mood several times. I shall wait until the final super-duper special edition DVD with everything on it before making a home purchase.

Star Trek: Only being a fan of TNG - I wasn't sure how this would go. I felt it was thoroughly enjoyable. A great chemistry between the cast (most of the time) and strong effects. A proper 'blockbuster' kind of film; light on brains but heavy on charm.

Wolverine: Worst of the bunch by far for me. The first 20 minutes were really promising and then it descended into X3 levels of character development. Guff.

Terminator Salvation: A fun film which doesn't feel in any way like a Terminator movie. Some good performances, great effects and a little too much fanservice (which coming from a huge fan of Transformers Animated is saying something)

Overall, Star Trek is in the lead so far. Haven't seen ROTFL yet - probably'll wait till Wednesday- but I can't see Kirk being knocked off the top spot.

[Deleted]

I'll have to watch Terminator Salvation at some point. I've heard or read nothing remotely terrible about it.

[grahamthomson]

Updating my thoughts;

ROTF sneaks in behind Star Trek, with Terminator in third place.

Are there any other films of the "sci-fi/blockbuster" ilk coming out later this year?

[The Doctor]

The only other SF films I know about are Moon and Avatar.

-Ralph

[jameso]

There's a GI Joe movie in the autumn.

[The Doctor]

The cinematic event of the century.

-Ralph

[Bogatan]

Updated opinion.

Up still the best film I've seen this year. So not really new this year (though first available to buy in the UK this year) but I finally bought Dr Horribles Sing along Blog. Awesome greatness. Commentary: The Musical might be even funnier.

ROTF certainly better than T4. Probably not as good as Star Trek or the above two.

Andy

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Updated list in descending order (and OK, I'm expanding it to all films in the cinema this year, not just sci-fi blockbusters).

From best to worst:

1. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra*
2. Public Enemies
3. Moon
4. X-Men Origins: Wolverine*
5. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen*
6. Terminator Salvation
7. Watchmen
8. Star Trek
9. The Spirit

* films likely to be acquired on DVD.

Martin

[Fortmax2020]

Out of those that I have seen from your list for me it would be:

1. Star Trek*
2. GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra (close though)*
3. Moon*
4/5. X-Men Origins: Wolverine*
4/5. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen*
5. Watchman
6. Terminator Salvation

DVD purchase for most but will probably wait until they are on sale (excepting Star Trek).

[Grand Moff Muffin]

And District 9 goes straight in at number one.

1. District 9
2. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra*
3. Public Enemies
4. Moon
5. X-Men Origins: Wolverine*
6. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen*
7. Terminator Salvation
8. Watchmen
9. Star Trek
10. The Spirit

* films likely to be acquired on DVD.

Martin

[Fortmax2020]

I think I would have to agree with you there!

[Grand Moff Muffin]

And we have a third serious-concept sci-fi flick now joining 'Moon' and 'District 9' in the form of 'Surrogates'. Not bad going, considering the way the year began. I saw it this morning. It goes into my league table at number 3.



I think of 'Surrogates' as the anti-'Matrix', with Bruce Willis the anti-Keanu Reeves. And now not only is James Cromwell the inventor of warp drive, he is also the man who invented perfect mannequin robots which humans worldwide choose to live their lives through while their real body sits in a chair at home. It's clearly a metaphor for the Internet, only instead of a future where we live in a virtual world, it's one where the world is real, we're just living in it remotely. Except for those who choose not to.

Anyway, it's quite short, relies more on acting than special effects (each actor plays their real self and their mannequin self) and is worth 90 minutes of your time. Not half as stressful as 'District 9'.

1. District 9
2. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra*
3. Surrogates
4. Public Enemies
5. Moon
6. X-Men Origins: Wolverine*
7. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen*
8. Terminator Salvation
9. Watchmen
10. Star Trek
11. The Spirit

Martin

[jameso]

I really enoyed GAMER, which might still be out and about. Generic action sutff, but plenty of makes you think/hmm, that's interesting moments, for me anyway.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

'The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus' wasn't really to my taste. Coming out of it, I felt like I'd been looking at surrealist modern art that art critics find deep meaning and structure in but which just struck me as rather unpleasant and chaotic.

I suppose it was technically _clever_ in execution, but... just a bit to gratuitously anarchic. Can't say any of the characters really engaged my sympathy, nor that the story was particularly coherent. I've seen much better compete-with-the-devil-for-a-person's-soul films, such as 'Night Watch'/'Day Watch', and much, much more appealing and rich fantasy worlds in everything from 'Alice in Wonderland; and 'Labyrinth' to 'The Lord of the Rings' and 'Pan's Labyrinth'.

But if you like your fantasy films on the twisted, disturbing and surreal side, you may find more to like in it than I did.

Martin

In descending order of satisfaction:

1. District 9
2. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra*
3. Surrogates
4. Public Enemies
5. Moon
6. X-Men Origins: Wolverine*
7. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
8. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen*
9. Terminator Salvation
10. Watchmen
11. Star Trek
12. The Spirit

*have bought or intending to buy on DVD

Here's something completely different. Another film featuring Ewan Macgregor and Jedi Knights:



Martin