I Am Legend

Talk about movies, and whatnot, upcoming flicks, and current releases.
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vrikasatma
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I Am Legend

Post by vrikasatma »

Saw it at the midnight show, Thursday/Friday.

The house was packed, we got there an hour early and the line was into its second turn in the lobby. It would eventually snake back and forth through seven turns.

The audience was pumped and they attached all the exciting upcoming film trailers. I was going because my friend Paradox was cast as one of the Infected. IMdB misreported him as the Alpha Male but that unfortunately wasn't so.

Intense movie. I was tired by the time it was over, because it kept yanking me back and forth and kept me on edge the whole time. I'm not surprised it's pwning everything else in terms of earnings, word must have gotten out that it's a great film and people are flocking to it.

No spoilers, but they handled...<i>that</i> plot point very well. Astounding bit of acting on Will Smith's part. (You know which scene I'm talking about)

So, has anyone else seen it?
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Post by PariahPoet »

I saw it Saturday. Other than fellow movie-goers that need to be beaten for answering phones in the show and walking aimlessly through the entire movie, it was quite good.
I enjoyed Will Smith's acting. I think he handled the role well. The plot was not terribly original. It was pretty formulaic for a zombie/infected human/what-have-you, movie. But instead of a handful of survivors, there is one. Smith did a great job getting into the psychology of his character.

My only complaint is the cinematography. I spent half the movie with my eyes closed because the shaking camera made me terribly motion sick. If you get car-sick easily, take some Dramamine before the show.

Evil movie-goers and camera aside, it was a very good movie.
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Post by Defensorem Lupus »

I have to see this one.
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Post by ravaged_warrior »

I enjoyed it, but CGI vampires was a stupid (and poorly executed, in my opinion) idea.
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Post by MattSullivan »

Yes i laughed every time the cgi vampires opened their mouths and "roared"
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Post by ravaged_warrior »

It's not even like they needed CGI, they looked (kinda) like people either way. They could have just used makeup. Maybe it was cheaper this way...
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Post by PariahPoet »

I saw on a making of show that they were going to use makeup and they shot one scene and it looked like "attack of the mimes". That's why they went cg.
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Post by ravaged_warrior »

Really? Hmm... That's sort of an odd explanation. Why didn't they use different makeup, or touch it up digitally? It didn't seem like the look was anything new, 30 Days of Night had similar (though gorier) makeup. Either way, it's not like they would have been in the movie for that long, which is why I don't hold too much of a grudge over the CGI that was used.
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Post by vrikasatma »

The "Blair Witch"-style camera moves were what helped sell it to me. I noticed a couple camera joggles, particularly when Will Smith's character was starting to go round the bend. That scene in the hive reminded me of the last shot of <i>The Blair Witch Project</i> and made my blood pressure shoot up a couple notches as a result.

I'm fairly disappointed with the CG Infected. The rubber-face roar was okay for me, it drives home the "inhuman-ness" of the Infected.

But...minor quibbles! I'm glad it's doing well because my friend Paradox will be a hot property now. He's been a starving artist for many, many years and last time I checked in with him, a year ago, he was sick to the back teeth of being dirt poor.
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Post by Morkulv »

I saw it last night, and I thought it sucked. The beginning is nice, but it slowly turns into a weird faith/christian/god-loving wank-fest with no sence of storydirection at all.

Also, I hated the very forced (although to me predictable) 'shocks' and CGI cartoon character-like designs that ruined every bit of realism and atmosphere.
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Post by Defensorem Lupus »

I had watched it a few days ago. I liked it a lot. It had everything it needed to have a good movie in my opinion. The CGI at times was not that great but looking beyond that it was a good movie.
The wolf is neither man's competitor nor his enemy.
He is a fellow creature with whom the earth must be shared...
If the wolf is to survive, the wolf haters must be outnumbered.
They must be outshouted, out financed, and out voted.
Their narrow and biased attitude must be outweighed by an attitude based on an understanding of natural processes.
-Dr. L. David Mech
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Post by nekocj »

I loved this movie! Although I have to agree with Matt, the roar was silly, but it could have been worse. It could have been a Stephen Sommers "Mummy" or "Van Hellsing" foot long opened mouth roar. I thought they did a decent job with the infected peoples. They moved a little funny and some of the animal movements could have been a little better, but all in all I thought it was a great bit of acting for Will Smith. I was getting kind of bored with some of the other stuff he was doing. Also, I'm not going to lie to you. I cried after that one part. I'm sure you others who saw the film know which part I"m talking about, but I just about sobbed lol. It was definitely sad. I also didn't like how they were tying the whole thing to god and what not. I would rather they just leave religious overtones out of films unless it straight up has to do with religion. Anywayz, I recommend it. I enjoyed it very much all in all. Very scary for awhile I thought : D

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Post by chubhound »

Not a bad flick, in my opinion. I didn't really care for the book, since I hate "scientific" explanations for things like vampires, but the movie did a good job. As for the "religious overtones" in the movie...I sure didn't see any. There was one character that doesn't even show up until about 3/4 of the way through the movie that says "It was God's will that we found you", and that's pretty much it.
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Post by Renorei »

I loved this movie.

I'm not sure if I still know how to use spoiler tags, so if you don't want to see a spoiler, don't read the text immediately below.


[spoiler]
I've seen plenty of zombie-esque movies where the main character has to kill someone he or she cares about, and frankly, no movie has ever done it as effectively as this one did. [/spoiler]



Like many of you, there were some things about it I didn't like. But overall, I thought it was really good. I disagree with the sentiment that the religious overtones didn't belong. It's not like it shoved religion down your throat or anything. I thought that it actually added to the film greatly. If you aren't a spiritual person, that's fine, but I don't think a film should be criticized for having a few mentions of religion which are really perfectly appropriate. It was as much about Smith's maturation and evolution as a character as anything else, so I think it was fitting.

There were some things I thought were odd. Once again, spoilers:

[spoiler] I liked how that male got really angry when Smith kidnapped that female. Considering how animalistic these creatures are, it surprised me. I also thought it was neat that he had two dogs at his command. Once again, that suggests at least a quasi-human intelligence, which seemed a little out of place but certainly added interest. One thing I thought was a little hokey, however, was at the beginning when they had that family of lions out hunting. I'm pretty sure that's relatively unrealistic lion behavior, but oh well.[/spoiler][/code]
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Post by Fenrir »

good story....cgi vamps killed it though
"Nam Sibyllam quidem Cumis ego ipse oculis meis vidi in ampulla pendere et cul illi pueri dicerent 'Sibylla Ti cupisne' respondebat illa 'Cupio mortere'."

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Re: I Am Legend

Post by Wselfwulf »

Yeah, I saw it, and went crying back to the book, as you'd expect. I don't expect much from book to film adaptations, but was least of all expecting a religious bastardisation that removed integral chunks of thematically incongruent material. Should've simply been a new movie rather than a film adaptation.

But I'll pay the cinematography, very much so.
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Re: I Am Legend

Post by Were Dono »

This movie was really great. I loved Will Smith's role in this movie. It was so realistic...and a lot different that his "Witty guy with an attitude" role he usually plays. Honestly, I couldn't imagine that I actually almost cried when had to kill his dog. But, the relationship they portrayed almost as a human companionship. I suppose...it was all he had, though?

But...the "creatures" seemed more mutants than vampires. Which actually makes a lot more sense. A mutation from the "cure" to cancer doesn't suddenly make you thirsty for blood. True that they did feed on all the other saviors. But, when I say feed...I mean devour the flesh.
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Re: I Am Legend

Post by Dreamer »

Wselfwulf wrote:Yeah, I saw it, and went crying back to the book, as you'd expect. I don't expect much from book to film adaptations, but was least of all expecting a religious bastardisation that removed integral chunks of thematically incongruent material. Should've simply been a new movie rather than a film adaptation.

But I'll pay the cinematography, very much so.
Actually, the original ending was much more faithful to the book. They just changed it because of executive meddling because it tested badly. Thus why the marketing department ruins everything, especially creatively. To paraphrase Shakespeare "The first thing we'll do is kill all the marketers."
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Re: I Am Legend

Post by O Pianista »

Alternate Finale was some kind of " Oh... We didn't find the cure "

Google it...
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Re: I Am Legend

Post by Jessie-Simone »

I need to see this movie.
Thanks to Sae-Kurosawa
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