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Road to Perdition


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Saw road to perdition yesterday and I've gotta say i was impressed, for some odd reason I didn't think it'd be that good.  One think I've gotta say is that it's one of the most I guess "well presented" movies I've ever seen.

 

  If there are any problems in it, it's the writing.  They sort of butcher the father/son theme a bit, the narration was almost entirely unecesarry, but the visuals, score, and acting were all fucking perfect.  

 

 This is one of the best looking movies I've seen in ages.  If conrad hall (legendary cinematographer) doesn't win the oscar for this I'll kill somebody.  I would be proud to have any frame of this movie hanging on my wall.  The lighting is just insane, and it just looks extremely cool to see these silhouettes of guys in fedoras out in the rain.  I'd say it was worth watching just for the visuals.  

 

 The score was great, and the sound in the movie was really cool too.  Through most of the end the only backround sound is the waves on the beach crashing, and that was fuckin brilliant, the sound really adds to the impact of the scene.  Acting was top notch too, obviously.  Hanks and Newman were awesome, I was happy to see Jennifer Jason Leigh in it, and Jude Law was pretty disturbing.  

 

 In the middle of summer it's really odd to see such a slow, quiet, somber movie being played, but you'd kick yourself for missing it on the big screen, you just can't recreate sound and visuals like this outside of a theater.  People underestimate how much better some stuff is on the big screen.  Of course it sucks that this one won't make money, but there were big lines for Halloween and Reign of fire.  Most of the people I know haven't even heard of this one...  

 

 I'm loving this director, in my eyes, he can now do no wrong.  With this script, they could have made a pretty mediocre movie, but now I'm conviced that the script could be the ingrediants to a box of frosted flakes and this guy could make it worth watching.  American beauty's visuals were a lot subtler, because the story didn't require much style, this one is fucking overflowing with style, can't wait to see more form him and conrad hall.  

 

:approve::

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Eh, for what it's worth, at least 8 legged freaks knows its a B movie, and is proud of it.  I'm sure you'd get what you paid for if you go see it.

 

But on this topic... you know, you comic book lovin folk will just flock to the next superhero movie, which won't move the industry forward one bit regardless of how much money it makes, but a non-superhero oscar contender comes out, and I don't hear so much as a peep...  It's serious stuff like this that'll make all the difference, I think, damned shame nobody's out there supporting the medium...  I mean, if you want them to make a namor trilogy and stop making stuff like ghost world, go ahead... dont see it.... :plain:

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A Namor trilogy! Rock on! Can there be spin-off movies based on some of the extras in the movie? Sweet! Now what's this about some movie that isn't about a latex clad super powered superhero and isn't already a trilogy before it's finished pre-production and isn't a sweet ass talking action figure with a cool karate chop button! Oh, and theme song too. Namor, namor, namor...naaaaaa.....mooooooorrr! Bum bum bum bum bum bum NAMOR! Oh look, a squirrel!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, I finally saw R2P.Great movie. I wasn't blown away by it, because it came so highly recommended that my expectations were already at the level that the movie was. But I couldn't agree more with Junker about the style. Every single shot was just oozing with style and cinematic awesomeness. I'm not sure I would have noticed it as much if Junker's comments didn't make me look out for it, but if R2P doesn't get best cinematography in the oscar race, I'll be pissed. And you can try to dance aound it all you want, but Tom Hanks is an incredible actor. Everytime I try to pigeonhole him or say to myself something like 'he's good, but he's not versatille', he goes and proves me wrong. I don't know what it is, but I just have this incredible desire to think that Tom Hanks isn't as great an actor as he is (I think I might suffer from the opposite condition with Brad Pitt, but that's another thread :D ). Though I think it was Jude Law that really shined in the few scenes he had. He really brought life to a charcter that, played by someone else, could have been just another character in the movie. Anywho, this is proof to me that American Beauty was no accident. While R2P is not as good as AB, it is certainly the best "artsy" type movie I've seen this year.

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If you want to compare it to lone wolf and cub, I'd read the comic book. I've read a lot about the movie after watching it, and I learned that the book is a much more action packed, modern samurai kind of thing. The more obvious choice to direct the movie would have been john woo. The movie is a lot more calm and somber than the book, the action is not very fast or choreographed. If there's any connections to anything samurai related in the movie it'd be the themes, not the style at all. The movie is very very different from the book, but that doesn't mean it's not true to it, the writers of the comic wrote most of the movie's screenplay, so the two are different because they wanted to tell the same story in two different ways. There are supposedly two other books either already out, or coming out in the future, (road to purgatory was one of them, i think). Those could be made into movies too. Maybe another director will take one of those on and make it more like the book, or take it on a completely different direction. The movie and all I've been reading has me wanting to check out the comic though, so I'll be able to comment more once I read it.

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KOS - im not sure i follow; how are we comparin it to Lone Wolf & Cub? Havent read Road to Perdition or caught the film yet but it looks pretty different, just wonderin...

 

As reported by Comic Book Resources.com....

 

Exciting news for comic fans is that the much-acclaimed Road To Perdition continues to hang tough. The film spent it's third straight week in the box office top 2, collecting an estimated $11 million this weekend.

 

Also, for those interested, they did an inteview with Max Collins, writer of the original book.

 

Collins talks "Road to Perdition"

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  • 2 weeks later...

IC, have you still not seen Road To Perdition? I thought we were supposed to be support good comic book movies that aren't necesarily about superheroes in tights. Oh well, I guess we are sending a message to hollywood. The Namor trilogy is on it's way. We'll probably see something from Rubber-Man and Banana-Man sometime soon too. I can see the headlines now:

 

In response to recent appectance of comic movies, Year One has been scraped and Joel Schumacher's new script has been approved. Pre-production is already under way. The film has a 200 million dollar budget, which Warner was able to scrape up after pulling the plug on every non-Schumacher film for the next 5 years. Early indication show that approximately 40% of the budget will go to costume design costs. Batman's costume will weight 185 pounds (35 pounds of which will be the generator powerign the neon lights covering ever inch of the suit), and will be operated by a pulley system, as no actor in hollywood could possibly move while wearing it. Speaking of actors, it seems Schumacher is not asking George Clooney to return has he was 'not animated enough' for the role. The part is seemingly being fought over by Pauly Shore and Carrot Top. Fans of both of them shouldn't worry though as Schmacher is said to want Pauly shore for Batman and Carrot Top to play Ra's Al Ghul. Rumor say that the plot will revolve around Ra's Al Ghul inventing a time machine and using it to send Batman into a Gotham of the future. Joel Schumacher promises there won't just be Ra's Al Ghul to give Batman a hard time. "Since it took so long for my follow up to really get going, I've decided it's best that we include every Batman villan that hasn't been used yet. There's no sense risking never having an oppurtuny to use them if there's never a chance for me to do one again. After all, everyone know that the more villans the movie has the better. I don't know why I only put three in B&R!" Schumacher has also been said to be toying around with the idea of having the villans form a villan team dubbed, 'The Coherts of Catastrophe.' "I'm really excited about the idea" says Schumacher. He continued "it's sure to be the greatest team of villans ever! I've even had some ideas of my own for new Batman villans. My first is Doctor Disorder." Preliminary sketch of Doctor Disorder have yet to be released by the studio, but early rumor show Tom Green is being eyed for the role. Schumacher concluded the interview by telling us thatt eh official name of the release will be "Batman, Robin, Batgirl, Nightwing and the Alfredeer's zany time-traveling adventure 3D: If you liked Batman & Robin, you'll love this!"

 

Well now, that was just too fun to write! Once I started, I couldn't sop. Damn to relived alot of stress left over from watching B&R. IC you should try something like this. After all, didn't you see it twice?

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Yes, that's right. I support shit. I personally think hollywood is stressing the whole "quality" thing, when what we need is more shit. I miss movies that insult me.

Nevermind i saw B&R once with friends, once to score, lived right around a theatre back then, wasnt in the process of movin, etc...

I saw Signs 'cause it looked like it oughta be seen in a theatre. If i dont catch Road to Perdition, its on my Netlfix list, and ill see it in a few months on DVD, but it will be seen. This movie isnt dyin in the theatres. Now, Blood Work i might go catch soon, 'casue lets face it, Clint Eastwood deserves my money. :D

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It's just that I hear all this 'support good comic movies' talk and then you don't go see R2P. I mean, movie studios don't make any decisions based on video sales or video rental sales, they make them based on ticket sales (unless the video sales are REALLY incredible, like the first Austin Powers). When certain movies do well with ticket sales, they fund more movies like it. Sure, R2P isn't suffering, but it's gonna take lots of money to convince movie studios to pick up non-superhero comic based scripts. It's not like it's a waste of money, the movie was incredible. But that's just my understanding of the situation. Hope you see it before it goes out of theaters.

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Well, they were incredible Junker, but I wouldn't go as far as to say there were the best part of the movie. It's true they ruled and if R2P doesn't get best cinematography, then some people in the academy will be recieving letter bombs from me, but I still think the script and the preformances were the best part of the movie. We can agree that they definitley make the trip to the theater worth it!

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Its loosely based on a comic ive never even heard of! Its honestly not bein associated much with the comic as it is, or that book would be available for me to find, for one! There are obscure comic moives even i miss, especially in theatres - fuck, i barely caught X-Men when i was in EMS training! I'm more worried for the few Vertigo projects that could make really good films but at this point prtetty obviously wont, and Tom Hanks aint doin nothin for em! If its still in theatres in a bit, great; if not i see it on DVD. I know movies like Minority Report aint the same on my rinky-dink TV & sound system, but at least i see em. Im honstly not convinced this film will do anythin to open the door for non-superhero films, but even so, ill support it where i can. Fuck, you people do know i didnt catch the last few westerns in theatres either, right?

Screw you guys...I'm seeing Blood Work. :D

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...all im tryin to establish is that "hey comic book guy, you have to see this one right now!" No, i fuckin well dont, ill see it when i can. Tho im honestly not as big a fan of Hanks as others, and im not lured to films where the best thing i hear bout em is "visually stunning!", it still looks interestin, and when i do catch it, if i dig it, ill post so here. Lil busy round here, ill catch it when im good ready. You folks writing a book about me or somethin...? I guess i should take all the pimping geared towards me as flattery, eh...

And hey, if Blood Work sucks, ill be the first to admit it, especially if i only liked it 'cause of Clint, whereas others wont. I dont hype crap, unless i know people are fans of crap.

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I wasn't saying you should you shoudl see R2P cause your a comic book guy. I'm saying you should see it because of 1) all the talk i've heard from you and others on this board about bad comic movies vs good comic movies and 2) how we should support any crappy comic movie just because it's a comic movie and 3) your whinning about how everyone thinks comics books are just full of superheroes and how hey don't understand it's a medium for any type of story and 4) it's a good movie! That's why you should see it. Actually, I'm not saying 'you should see it' as much as I'm saying I'm surprised you're not seeing it after all the stuff I've heard you say about comics and their movie counterparts and it seems to kind go contrary to all those things you've said.

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Again, i didnt even know it was a comic flick till Junker mentioned it, and the "non-superhero comics" thing is supported plenty by about $20 a week goin straight to the industry. I made the Come in Alone thread partly becasue i realized Warren Ellis is right, movies simply dont sell or justify comics to the public, that has to be done by comic book shops, by the industry itself. The man's got a point when he sees the huge sucess of the Spider-Man flick and the Ultimate Spider-Man book sales as a treatment rather than a cure, its not solvin the problem. It oughta be noted i do take that end seriously, as i scoured Ft Worth last time i was there to find a comic shop that supported independent press, and that's the shop ill buy from.

So this movie, it can wait. I'm happy to know there's possibly a good film out there havin somethin to do with a comic, so ill catch it when im up for it.

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Oh i disagree, and how! I think youre losin sleep over it. I think you lay your head on your pillow at nite & say "Damn you, vile IC, just watch the goddamn movie, you fuck!". Dont think i dont know. I fear, were i to silence the voice in your head by finally seein this one, itd just get worse. "...Ok asshole, now time for Spy Kids! Watch it, bitch! Watch it now!! God, i hate that guy." see and all that just leads to the dark side, so really im tryin to help you out here.

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You are SO wrong. Spy Kids is much higher that R2P on my list of priorities for you to see. And there are plenty of things even higher than Spy Kids. Recently, Floundering entered that spot, and more of a lifelong battle is getting all y'alls to like Rush. I gave up on the Rush pimpin seeing as it pissed most y'alls off and got most fo you to hate Rush (or in your case Ic, to lear to hate Rush all over again). The only one that didn't end up hating it was Junker, but he already had Chronicles (the 2 disc best of collection) and hasn't learned to appriciate them any more than he already did, so that's not a victory. But to sum up, I have plenty of thing that keep me up at night because of your refusign to watch/listen to them, but R2P is low on the list.

 

PS See spy kids.

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Well, now yer not seeing it just to spite jack, just great. Best way of getting someone to see something is constant nagging... yeah... eh, whatever, I pimped it as much as I'm going to, wrote my review and tried to give it one extra push, I'm not gonna go on for pages about how anybody should see it.

 

Oh, and I heard a mention about not being able to find the comic, it's really easily available at places like borders and Barnes n nobles actually, hard to find at regular comic shops cause they like to perpetuate the superheros-only thing apparently, the book's sellin' like hotcakes in other places tho. I'll end up readin it eventually.

 

Either way, looks like only two of us board folk saw it, dinghy saw it too but she doesn't post enough to let us know what she thought. Hope the folks overseas get to see it.

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