Someone should get a hold of this Ernest Cline guy they got butchering the script and tell him to stop messing with the author’s vison. 
Honestly? Spielberg is a better director than Cline is a writer. He can do what he wants.
True enough. Ready Player One was an amazing experience. Armada was less so.
Given that Spielberg made “Jaws,” “Munich,” and “Catch Me If You Can,” he is in fact living proof that a filmmaker can improve upon the work of an author.
I’d go further. I think his Jurassic Park is better than the book. So is Minority Report(which is a neat, but not great, story).
Then again, Tintin was less than its source and even he could not save Crystal Skull from its bad story(though I actually like both of these movies).
I’m not so sure about the samurai choice. I’d think Japanese versions of Wade (obsessed with the 80/90s due to the egg hunt) would choose early anime/manga characters or be some sort of techno-samurai. A sword-wielding schoolgirl would be more likely.
Then there’s the issue of making one character black, overweight, and a lesbian. I’m curious which aspect they drop for the movie - knowing Hollywood, I predict she’s now thin. (That was a twist for me, btw - I thought Arty was black).
You see in the credits where it’s Ernest Cline and Zak Penn? I’m guessing that Cline wrote the initial draft to make the book somewhat filmable, after which Spielberg and a professional screenwriter had their way with it - which I’m not saying is a bad way to go. I couldn’t finish Armada.
I am so excited for the movie! I was a teenager in the 80s so I am looking forward to a fun romp with lots of 80s nostalgia.
This is spot on. I thought it was amazing after the first read but the second read wasn’t nearly as satisfying. I still think it is a fun book though. My 13-year-old video-game-obsessed son adores it and has read it over and over.
I sort of remember enjoying the book, but not being amazingly engaged with it.
This trailer looks really underwhelming to me. I’m actually surprised to know that it’s Spielberg. I think of him as a talented craftsman with a bunch of interesting movies under his belt. But the action scenes in this trailer look interchangeable with every other action movie coming out right now. They are very busy and physically implausible, and it feels like it’s trying to grab my attention by being very flashy and loud. In the end it just seems lifeless and flat, like a Michael Bay movie that’s maybe had just a little less cocaine.
(Yes I know physical implausibility shouldn’t matter in a virtual world, but in my opinion that doesn’t make it more compelling to watch).
If I wanted some 80s nostalgia, I wouldn’t mind if they adopted some old school film making too. Spielberg is capable of much more. I don’t think the skill is lost, I’ve seen some pretty good recent movies (Dunkirk and The Big Sick) in recent weeks with skillful craft being displayed by all involved.
That sounds accurate based on this interview from Wired with Cline that was published when the book first came out.
I think there’s a strong argument there. While I’d have liked to see more people get eaten, “Jurassic Park” is a landmark film, one of the most influential movies ever made. The book is just another paperback.
I read somewhere that the Iron Giant is going to play a large role, which makes me think that Ultraman and/or MechaGodzilla are out. Which makes me :mad:
I’ve never seen the Iron Giant and could care less about it BUT I love Godzilla and kaiju. Except Pacific Rim, that movie sucked.
Getting back to the trailer…Freddy Krueger brought knives to a gunfight and gets owned in short order. That was a poor choice of avatar, Freddy. Similarly with Batman riding a giant scorpian - cool as fuck but an easy target for ranged weapons. You’d have to choose your avatar very carefully, – I mean I’m not even sure that Freddy could even hold a Luger (to turn 'em in to spaghetti) given his hands.
What avatar would you choose? I would def want more than one set of arms. Also 360 degree vision would be a plus. Wings?
As we see Harley and Deathstroke in the trailer, it seems comics heroes are do-able for avatars, so I’d likely go that route.
I’d want something like Goddess Beth, with weapons in each hand and a built in mini nuke that detonates if I die.
In the scene with the scorpion, on a frame breakdown you can see it killing an ostrich and turning it into an egg, so speculation is this is part of the Joust challenge, though obviously very different from the book version.
If I can get any avatar I want? Tiamat (though I don’t usually play females) or War Machine (way cooler than Iron Man).
Depends on if I’m in win at all costs mode or playing for the challenge.
Having a think about it again, your own avatar wouldn’t come with any special skills or abilities, it would just look how you wanted it to look. You would have to level up to increase your hit points and abilities or acquire weapons by either buying them or completing quests. Having a giant robot companion or giant scorpion is just like having a weapon. So the Tiamat wouldn’t be able to breathe fire unless you bought a mod for it and that would not be cheap. I think that’s how the world works.
In the book world, there’s no way in hell I could afford to build Tiamat, not rich enough or a consistent enough gamer. But as a Sixer… 
Bizarre brain fart there. Meant “War Games.”
Although it would be kind of funny if they just swapped out for another one of his films from that era.