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I'm intrigued about this film. Taken on premise alone it sounds more like Battle Royale and The Running Man than Twilight. But we'll see.
James Newton Howard... hmmm... we'll see there too!
It's more like Harry Potter than Twilight. Here, you care about the characters, the lead character is not a dependent bitch like Bella, the books have a message, and it's not about how important is to have a boyfriend, like Stephen King said.
Stephen King did not say that.
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Haha, nope!
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I'm intrigued about this film. Taken on premise alone it sounds more like Battle Royale and The Running Man than Twilight. But we'll see.
James Newton Howard... hmmm... we'll see there too!
It's more like Harry Potter than Twilight. Here, you care about the characters, the lead character is not a dependent bitch like Bella, the books have a message, and it's not about how important is to have a boyfriend, like Stephen King said.
He could have said something like that, but whoever said this has a point.
I'm going to watch the film and I am curious already. I have not read the books, but what I know about them and what the film trailer shows seems promising.
The last Twilight film was seriously one of the worst films I have ever seen. Why waste so much money on something so... boring?
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The last Twilight film was seriously one of the worst films I have ever seen. Why waste so much money on something so... boring?
Money. Also, it doesn't matter. Spielberg himself couldn't save the film from being nothing more than the wet dreams of Stephenie Meyer. Harry Potter and The Hunger Games are far from it. It talks about themes of life and death, friendship, corruption, dictatorship, etc. That's why people of all ages reads and watch them, and Twilight is only readed and watched by teens, or adults who have a teen mentality.
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Twilight is only readed and watched by teens, or adults who have a teen mentality.
Yonythemoony:
My mom reads the Twilight books and watches the films. Are you saying she has a teen mentality?
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Twilight is only readed and watched by teens, or adults who have a teen mentality.
Yonythemoony:
My mom reads the Twilight books and watches the films. Are you saying she has a teen mentality?
No. But, let's be honest. 99% of the people who enjoy those books and films are teens, or woman who felt like one. The other 1% it's people who takes the books or films as guilty pleasure, something bad that doesn't prevent them to enjoy it like that.
Or boyfriends or husbands forced to watch thoses movies because of their girlfriends, or people who wanted to critisize the books and films, by watching them.
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Posted: |
Feb 5, 2012 - 7:03 PM
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By: |
JSWalsh
(Member)
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Hunger Games, Twilight and Potter, whatever their virtues, show the sad state of imaginative fiction in the wake of Stephen King, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, whose great talents are in execution and style, and not invention. There isn't an original idea in the bunch, and their virtues are in the reheating of old meals.
An example of invention in established genres would be Richard Matheson. THE SHRINKING MAN, DUEL, I AM LEGEND all takes old ideas and set them in a contemporary location and focus on a single character throughout, bringing more character-centered writing to a pulp genre, not to mention fresh ideas and a unique style. Bradbury brought a period of American life not explored in fantastic fiction into horror and fantasy arenas, Fritz Leiber helped invent the sword and sorcery genre. These and others didn't just move old ideas around, they CREATED.
Since the mid-seventies successes of King, Spielberg and Lucas, the name of the game is pastiche, homage, retread...with cool effects (in King's case, swears and product placement). (Another prominent example would be the devolution of the fantasy genre to "Tolkienesque" stuff.)
Fantasy (in its broadest sense) should be a place for unrestrained invention, not just repainting old wares.
Harry Potter is indeed well-written (I bailed during the early chapters of the first book not because of the style, but the content), but as Ursula LeGuin (an innovator herself) pointed out, there's nothing original in these books at all--wizards, dragons, etc.
That doesn't mean they're worthless--these ideas are recycled for every generation. The problem is that these genres are no longer open for truly new and original ideas. Everyone just wants to read a variation on something they loved as a kid.
Twilight is, as others have pointed out, the latest in romance fiction. It's funny how people who would laugh at something they'd call a "Harlequin Romance" can't see that that's exactly what Twilight is. A woman I know explained her married female friends being fans of the movies as reliving teenaged crushes and romantic imaginings. I guess it's the equivalent of adult men who still watch Spielberg and Lucas and superhero movies. (I watch plenty of escapist stuff, so I'm not judging, but it's no more noble when I do it, and just as immature in that sense.)
Hunger Games is being read by a kid in my program and he is enjoying it, and his description makes it sound like a variation on Battle Royal or a pulpier version of Lord of the Flies. I know the least about this one so I can't comment beyond that.
It seems like the adult fans of these read Potter to recapture their childhood, Twilight their teen years, and Hunger Games their, well, senior high experience. 
Having said all that...
It's funny how easily James Newton Howard is being trashed here by folks who reference John Powell, as if Powell is particularly original. Howard has been composing scores for over twenty years, and has been a professional musician for something like forty. The sheer variety of his scores is impressive, and the quality is high. He has one or two mediocre scores in the span of a couple of years and he doesn't get intelligent criticism but fanboy trashing. Fortunately, JNH doesn't read that garbage, he's too busy with his crowded film composing career to care.
Whether or not I like some of the scores criticized here or not, and whether or not I like anything he does this year, the guy has a musical background rare in film scoring today. You don't have to like any or all of his scores, but have some perspective about his talent and the narrow frame of reference you seem to betray. If I had to choose which one, JNH or Powell, has the wider range, and which has the more original style, JNH would win, no contest. But that doesn't mean Powell should be trashed as a rip-off artist, or demeaned, just because I don't enjoy his music.
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