What is Digg?188 Comments
- PATSCRU, on 07/07/2008, -31/+144Terrible article that tells nothing about what the original script was like and why it was better than the final script. Also, i didn't think that Hancock was nearly as bad diggers are making it out to be.
- chocobomog, on 07/07/2008, -23/+108Hollywood finally does something different instead of the cliche "superheroes journey" and yet you still complain?
Both I Am Legend and Hancock are fun sci-fi films that offer more than the generic popcorn flicks we have been subject to over the past couple of years. Could they have been better? Sure! Were they fun and refreshing even with their flaws? Yes.
Seriously, everyone complains that Hollywood doesn't try enough "new ideas" and then when they release something that is well-made, fun, has character depth, tries new concepts, and stands out in the genre they complain even more.
This movie was fun. It wasn't perfect but it is better than what we have been getting (up until Iron Man and Dark Knight at least). - zyl0x, on 07/07/2008, -8/+72Why can't people just enjoy movies anymore? Are we really so angry that we need to tear down movies because they're not the greatest movie we've ever seen? Why do you people even leave your houses anymore if you're constantly disappointed by everything in the world? It's just a movie. It's made to entertain. Just enjoy the damn thing.
- blogosphear, on 07/07/2008, -11/+65I really enjoyed this movie. I was definitely not expecting an Iron Man or Dark Knight.
- Gndoab, on 07/07/2008, -12/+49I thought "I Am Legend" was pretty good. It was different from the book, but I fail to see how that makes it a bad movie.
- gametavern, on 07/07/2008, -11/+35It was good. Screw the haters. I demand a sequel.
- TheGooseyOne, on 07/07/2008, -5/+26How about, go to the movies and figure it out for yourself? Or don't. Who needs another lame list website telling us why ________ is so _________?
- Snokage, on 07/07/2008, -3/+21 *blink*
what?!? - inactive, on 07/07/2008, -7/+25I lol'd.
- timothycrash01, on 07/07/2008, -0/+15I haven't seen Hancock yet, so can't judge, but I have to disagree with you on I Am Legend. I Am Legend is a great example of a studio trying to cater to too big a crowd and losing all emotional connection entirely. I Am Legend wasn't marketed, nor written to be a 'fun popcorn flick'. (Watch the trailers.) It is an extremely dark premise, with great opportunity to get into the head of a man who is completely on his own, with virtually no hope. The resulting film however was schizophrenic. On one had, you have these great scenes of Will Smith's life, alone in a giant city - living with the memory of his dead child and wife, and the emotional weight of lonliness and his strength to keep on going. Awesome, powerful, serious content. There's nothing about this that screams 'fun pop corn' to me. A great example of this is him talking to the mannequins in the video store - the guys really hanging on by a thread.
But on the other hand (mainly the last half of the film), all this emotional build up is lost. His reaction and relationship to the woman that comes to save him is superficial and treated off hand. The film turns to solid action, and his character regains all self-confidence and sanity pretty much within minutes. This is why I have a problem with this film. They couldn't take his character through a heavier arc, so they just put him through a bunch of action, give him a heroic ending (which contradicts the themes of the first half of the film) and you're left with a confusing mess.
On another note - it never made sense to me why he allowed the woman to survive instead of him. If he's possibly the only scientist around capable of curing the disease, then he knows that he has massive value to the rest of humanity. Instead, he gives a 'potential' cure to the woman, kills himself, and then hopes that 'if' she makes it out of the city alive, that she'll meet up with someone that knows what to do with the vaccine. Of course they have to tack on the 'happy ending' where she makes it to safety, so he doesn't seem like a total idiot for killing himself. Blah. I'd like to see an alternate ending, where he makes her sacrice herself, so he can get out alive - knowing he has the skills to save people. That would have been difficult writing and probably more interesting. - quigles3000, on 07/07/2008, -19/+33That point of the article wasn't to analyze the original script (I actually gave a link to it so you could do that yourself, and another link if you just wanted a summary). I wrote the article to shed some light on how the Hollywood system took a unique idea and found a way to destroy it.
- jotux, on 07/07/2008, -4/+17"Both I Am Legend and Hancock are fun sci-fi films that offer more than the generic popcorn flicks we have been subject to over the past couple of years."
I Am Legend was the definition of "generic popcorn flick." They took a FANTASTIC book, tore the title off of it and stuck it on a cliche zombie movie with a name brand actor. - timothycrash01, on 07/07/2008, -0/+12Ya - could you imagine if Alien was made today. There's no way they'd make it so serious, or allow Sigourney Weaver as the lead. It would probably resemble Alien vs. Predator and Samuel L. Jackson would definitely be in it. Neither 2001 or Brazil would get made today either.
But there are cycles in Hollywood. I think the last good cycle - where directors really took over, was during the Miramax revolution in the 90's - Pulp Fiction, etc. (Not much sci-fi though.) Back then, even the major studios had divisions of their company strictly for high budget, experimental, director driven films. And actors were more than willing to work for peanuts if the script / director was good.
I think it ended with The Matrix, where two brothers with a couple of minor credits were given over 60 million dollars to make a great Sci-Fi film. After that - instead of learning that director driven films result in higher quality productions, power went back to the producers, and we had almost 10 years of dumbed down sci-fi nonsense. And all those small studios got eaten up by the majors, and experimental divisions were cut.
But I think there's some hope. Pan's Labyrinth, Dark Knight (I hope), Iron Man at least show integrity is still in demand - and that directors / writers are getting their power back. Too bad about Sunshine - that could have been a fantastic sci-fi classic if not for the last 1/3. BSG should also give hope that we don't need comic relief every 10 minutes to keep us entertained - and audiences can handle a complicated, serious story. - dupswapdrop, on 07/07/2008, -10/+22Hollywood just can't seem to do science fiction right, there are so may good stories that could be make into great movies and they don't even try. Then they cry about people not showing up for their dumbed down movies.
- Pake, on 07/07/2008, -8/+20At the current rate people are bashing movies, I'm betting within 2 days of release we'll see "Why The Dark Knight was Crap" because everyone knows these bloggers need to make a name for themselves somehow and bashing everything is the easiest way to do it. I'm actually surprised there isn't a negative Wall-E review out already, but then again, bloggers seem to have hard ons for everything Steve Jobs has his hands in.
- sandiegodude, on 07/07/2008, -2/+13I saw it yesterday. I enjoyed it, got what I was expecting. A slightly fluffy superhero story with a twist. One thing I was a bit mystified about though. When he's flying through the city drunk at the start of the movie, the song playing is "Move Bitch" yet they censored the word bitch out. Yet within 15 seconds another character says *****, ***** and ***** all within 2 breaths. I understand they wanted to keep the rating down to PG-13, but c'mon, really? Was a song saying "Move bitch, get out the way" all that offensive? PC crap like that in movies annoys me. Aside from noticing that though, I had fun and enjoyed it.
- gametavern, on 07/07/2008, -1/+12give me a break, no you didn't
- inactive, on 07/07/2008, -1/+11Agreed. I laughed my ass off. It wasnt great, but it was ok. My friends that I saw it with had the same opinion.
- Kypt, on 07/07/2008, -1/+10If Dark Knight sucks I would be just as surprised as if I wake up and find out the sky is no longer blue, and instead its greenish pink. Yah, it could SOMEHOW suck, but we all expect it to just kick ass.
- ShooterMcGavin, on 07/07/2008, -5/+14I didn't hate this movie by any stretch. I really really liked the first 2/3 of it. It was a superhero side we hadn't seen before. But when the "twist" happened, it was all downhill from there. And disappointing. To me, it seemed like they just didn't trust the movie as it was and felt the need to add that other crap that just felt lame and forced. Basically, it downshifted into the same crap that every other bad superhero movie does.
It could have been really good. Instead, it was just kinda good.
http://jasonhaberman.com/index.php/2008/07/04/indi ... - assbeard, on 07/07/2008, -0/+8Pixar. They can do no wrong.
- inactive, on 07/07/2008, -5/+13I'm sure he was just kidding....
- B3000, on 07/07/2008, -2/+9I don't think their crying about people not showing up. Hancock made 107 mil in its first five days.
- bigjosh359, on 07/07/2008, -2/+9Prequel!
- lalilulelo, on 07/07/2008, -0/+7The whole point of that movie and novel is to show that Will Smith's character was a legend. The zombies were actually semi-intelligent and regarded this man that came and killed them randomly as their version of bigfoot. The entire meaning of the title of the movie is lost in the ending they chose because it shows that the zombies were not intelligent but just mindless killing machines. In that the main point that the author wrote the book for was lost.
- mlwarrior, on 07/07/2008, -0/+7Actually, I just read the summary of that script and it sounded sorta lame.
- inactive, on 07/07/2008, -0/+7He is a drunk, a relapse is easy.
- kingatrock, on 07/07/2008, -5/+12We love good movies is the problem. If you want us to pretend bad movies are good and praise them and throw $14 for a ticket and smile it ain't going to happen. Some movies are good most are bad, this one was ok.. not great, not terrible, why can't we ask for better? Or will they just raise ticket prices even more to combat low sales. And with people defending lukewarm movies you might as well be screaming "Gouge away!"
- publiclurker, on 07/07/2008, -1/+7Try to track down the alternate ending that is on the DVD's. It's much better than the pablum-ed version they actually released.
- wilsondus, on 07/07/2008, -2/+8Well, I thought it was great... digg me down if you like, I enjoyed it.
- B3000, on 07/07/2008, -2/+8consensus is not a fact based exercise.
- freebird09, on 07/07/2008, -0/+6I'm not sure that's the case with every sci-fi movie (definitely most though). WALL-E is technically sci-fi and pretty darn unique.
- dhVyse, on 07/07/2008, -1/+7Spoiler alert?
- minigig, on 07/07/2008, -0/+6I thought it was a better superhero movie then most made.
- kotatsu, on 07/07/2008, -0/+5The alternate ending is a little better, but still absolutely dreadful compared to the book.
- Induane, on 07/07/2008, -0/+5/me goes to watch his FireFly DVD's
- ElBeh, on 07/07/2008, -0/+5Thanks, I was getting tired of Digging stories and needed something to bury.
- Kohaxx, on 07/07/2008, -0/+5If there was a sequel it would have to be Hancock helping another superhuman discover their powers, or investigating their origins. Hancock himself seemed pretty complete at the end of the movie. I liked the character and Will Smith and Theron working together, but the story was nicely concluded at the end.
- kotatsu, on 07/07/2008, -0/+4Absolutely. And even more staggering is how by changing I Am Legend so completely, they removed any potential to use the original's killer twist ending, or justify the title 'I Am Legend' in any way. The film was a complete train wreck.
Hollywood should just stop filming books until they can learn to actually RESPECT THE ORIGINAL TEXT. Famous and popular books are famous and popular because they do things right. Hollywood hack screen writers do not know better. - Tyrghast, on 07/07/2008, -0/+4All I wanted was a comedy about a disgraced superhero, and what I got was a romance novel with political subtext!
- inactive, on 07/07/2008, -0/+4I noticed those as well. Hell his whole character was pretty much Michael Bluth.
- kingatrock, on 07/07/2008, -5/+9rottentomatoes anyone?
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hancock/ - wassim2k, on 07/07/2008, -0/+4Didn't it make over $67 million this weekend?
- ProjectGSX, on 07/07/2008, -6/+10Hancock currently has a 7.0 on IMDB. Hardly what I would consider a ruined film.
- HaMMeReD, on 07/07/2008, -1/+5Why digg down, it's a good point, Wall-E is Sci-fi, and is a good movie, so you can't say that all new sci-fi sucks, valid point.
- finn, on 07/07/2008, -2/+6went to see it and it and was pleasantly surprised that it beat my expectations, nothing to complain about; the article is lame, and thus buried.
- teh_spazz, on 07/07/2008, -3/+7Who cares? It was a popcorn flick made to sell tickets and make money. I enjoyed it for what it was.
- BillGod, on 07/07/2008, -1/+5HA holy crap I think I just pee'd a little. Racist.. but man it was funny. Come on people it's a joke.
- OstrakonX, on 07/07/2008, -1/+5*****, sorry.
- inactive, on 07/07/2008, -0/+4Hackers was a perfect movie.
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