Heartily agree on Starship Troopers.
I’v been a fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs since tie mid-'60s. The John Carter movie a few years ago was an abomination – it needs to be redone, and followed by films of the next two book in the series. I’d also like to see a Tarzan movie that follows the original book.
Not quite on topic, but I’d like to see the Richard Bolitho stories – a midshipman-to-admiral series anout an RN officer in the American Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars – made into movies.
What, 59 posts so far and no hate for Star Wars I, II, and III ? One could certainly have hoped that those (especially I) would have been done better.
When Star Wars I opened, the very first review I saw began with this line:
Never mind all the reboots; the very first ever Star Trek movie, “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” (ST:TMP) (1979) was a serious dud, in many people’s humble opinions. They coulda come up with something better (starting with an original story instead of a warmed-over Nomad), and some actual plausible acting.
I agree. They would have had a far better startoff to the movies if they’d just skipped ST:TMP, and went straight to The Wrath of Khan. Hell, the could have skipped The Voyage Home (aka ‘the whale one’) and The Final Frontier too, although The Undiscovered Country was pretty decent. Still sends chills up my spine when I think of Christopher Plummer quoting Shakespeare.
For me, though, the first three Star Wars movies were bad due to Jake Lloyd and Hayden Christiansen. I think the plots were reasonable, but if they’d only re-cast Anakin Skywalker to someone who could have better demonstrated some on-screen chemistry with Natalie Portman, I think those would have been far better movies.
Shifting gears, I really appreciate Tom Clancy’s movies, Hunt For Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, but I think The Sum of All Fears could also have been re-cast with someone better than Ben Affleck. He was just too . . . “excitable” to carry the thoughtful gravity of Jack Ryan that Baldwin and Ford brought to the role. Shadow Recruit was two hours of my life I’ll never get back, but I am looking forward to Without Remorse.
I would happily and willingly crowdsource my entire personal fortune and left giggleberry if they ever got serious about filming Red Storm Rising.
Tripler
Mike Edwards: “But I’m just a weatherman, Sir.”
This movie was awesome and has actually held up better than Khan as Voyage Home has a lot more humor to it.
I disagree; the whole premise of the movie was flawed. The humor–while appreciated–didn’t carry the poor plot.
Tripler
I have seen nuclear wessels.
I never understood why anyone liked The Voyage Home. Weak, weak attempts at humor (“too much LDS”? “Remember where we parked”? Seriously?) and a plot that can’t stand up to a minute of scrutiny. (Though I did like Chekov’s awe at seeing the Enterprise.)
What is the first thing the whales are going to tell the super powerful but never heard from before or since aliens when they hit the water in the 23rd century? “The humans killed us all. Destroy them! Kill them all!”
I disagree with your disagreement. Name a Star Trek episode or movie, any series, that didn’t a)have plot holes a 4 year old could spot, b)rely on a “reroute the Franistan Coupler through the main deflector dish” solution or c)require a complete memory wipe of Star Fleet sometime in the immediate past.
The best Trek either involved a substantial dose of humor or was a wholesale rip-off of a plot to a WW2 sub movie.
I won’t say John Carter was a great movie, but I think they did a really good job of capturing the spirit of the book.
I respectfully, and academically, disagree with your disagreement of my disagreement. Granted, there’s not a single episode/full-feature film that C.W. McCall himself wouldn’t drive a convoy through the plot holes thereof; but . . . whales? Whales?!?
It could be re-done better, given a different deux ex machina..
Tripler
I will grant you that Scotty talking into the mouse was genius.
I, with deep and undying admiration, agree that whales were stupid. But “Remember where we parked!” and “Keptin…it is the Enterprise!” make up for any number of sins. Why, without this movie, What_Exit? would be deprived of his brush with fame!* I would deny that to no one.
Maybe the probe could try to reach the StarGate located in the Great Pyramid.
OK, that’s weird. I just wanted an asterisked footnote, and Discourse gave me a bullet point unconnected to any reference. Oh, well.
It’s been so long since I’ve avoided seen the movie, I will make a good faith, honest effort next week to find it on a streaming service, and watch it again. The remembered scars on my eyeballs have healed since then, and I will watch it again with an open mind.
Back to other movies, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull had too much CGI. Granted, without it they would have risked busting Harrison Ford’s hip on a few occasions, but the Soviet Colonel getting sucked into the anthill? поооооооооооожалуйст!
Tripler
Raiders of the Lost Ark is hands down the best movie of all time on my list.
Actually, I can name a ton of ST that doesn’t have obvious plot holes. Off the top of my head…The Doomsday Machine, A Matter of Honor, In the Pale Moonlight…um let’s skip Voyager and Enterprise…Wrath of Khan, I’d even add First Contact.
I admit the Whales is no Final Frontier, a movie that, to paraphrase Benoit Blanc, is ALL donut hole, with another donut hole inside it. But it is at least as bad as The Search for Sequels.
And Scotty talking into the mouse is as bad as him bumping his head in V. Not to mention they were pretty cavalier with the temporal paradox. Not to mention, why do they even NEED transparent aluminum? The whales are going to be in the tank for about 10 minutes, and it’s not like there is anything to see in the cargo hold of a Klingon warbird anyway.
“Well done, Marine!”
“Sir, I’m Air Force”
I think they did an abysmal job of following the plot. I haven’t seen Starship Troopers, but from what I’ve heard it and *John Carter" are about level as far as faithfulness to the book goes.
Shane
And really, all they need to do is dub over that little boy’s voice. I will never own a copy of that movie in its present form.
Shane! Oh god yes. SCHAAANNNNNEEEEEE!
Lose the kid and it’s a masterpiece.
I tried to edit the thread, but it timed out. You are absolutely correct. “Beagle” was Air Force.
Tripler
I think it would be a damn relevant story today, if made into a film.
As far as I am concerned, they made two (2) Indiana Jones movies. Just like there was only one (1) Highlander movie (plus the series).
Yeah, John Carter was enjoyable. The critica hated it, due to the fact that several of them were crowing how unoriginal it was- then it got pointed out that ERB was before all that other stuff. That made them hate the film even more.
Mind you, it could have been better. Sexy costumes on the princesses shoudl have been part of it.
the 1953 film???