[McLovin]

Yep, it's GOLDEN COMPASS here in the States. I guess we know as much about Northern Lights as we do Philosopher's Stones.

[QuickTidal]

Silencer, on 05 February 2013 - 12:20 PM, said:

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Did we watch the same movie?! Now, I may be biased (it was a long time between reading the books and seeing the film), but the Golden Compass was an atrocious adaptation that should never have existed! Never mind that they screwed up from the outset by calling it "The Golden Compass" (NOT one of "His Dark Materials" - that would be the Northern Lights, and the correct title of the first book), but they essentially turned all the worldbuilding, character development, and plot setup from the first half of the book into a fifty-minute nonsensical montage! And the second half was barely any better, with very little in the way of pacing or suspense, and the acting all around (apart from maybe Iorek...yes, the voice acting on the armoured bear was better than any of the human actors) was sub-par at best.

Indeed, and I agree with all your complaints about it...but still I wish it would have gone on to do thew other two books because doing the AMBER SPYGLASS at all would have meant that the anti-religious, original sin stuff would have been totally unavoidable for the studio...and I think that's why I accepted the stuff that they screwed up in the film version compared to the book. I knew that IF they got to it, THE AMBER SPYGLASS would have delivered the stuff we wanted from the Pullman story.

I felt like it was cast VERY well across the board, and while it should have been longer (and they should not have cut out the cliffhanger ending) to flesh out the stuff that was rushed...it had a good FEEL, and the nittering stuff that was bad could easily have been corrected in a second film. I dunno. It's not my fave film, or even the film I'd hoped it would be (obviously), but I felt that it was a solid effort (if shying massively away from the central theme of the books) which COULD have opened the door for the latter two volumes which are unarguably much more in your face about that theme. I guess that's what I mean.

I can still see its merits as a film on its own, and realize that it's a watered down version of the book...Pullman himself was quite fine with the adaptation for the same reasons...The first novel, THE NORTHERN LIGHTS, is far less about that central religious theme as it's been disguised in the world-building, and he saw that....he praised the acting and the pacing...and went on record as saying that the central religious theme really doesn't become apparent until the second book where Lyra is out of her element and realizes what her Daemon represents in Alt-realities, and they begin to piece together the involvement of these deities.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 05 February 2013 - 06:14 PM

[tiam]

polishgenius, on 31 January 2013 - 07:26 PM, said:

There's absolutely no reason why a game-to-film adap can't be good, it's just they've not really been taken seriously by the industry.

100mil and Duncan Jones suggests that this one is being. A lot will depend on the writing though, obviously.

The most successful game to film adaptations are the Resident Evil films which have just had a fifth released recently I think. They dont pretend to be anything other than they are which is an attractive girl killing lots of increasingly horrible/deadly zombies.

I would also love to see an old world warhammmer style film (is there a Rome total war mod that allows me to play it like that?) but this could be good. Having never played WoW and only knowing it by reputation I would be skeptical though a respectable director and a significant budget could make it pretty good even as a standalone film.

[polishgenius]

Kanubis, on 05 February 2013 - 01:09 PM, said:

Silencer, I think that Northern Lights was actually published as The Golden Compass in North America because they didn't think enough Americans would be familiar with the Northern Lights for it to spark interest.

Not quite. The trilogy's working title was 'The Golden Compasses', also a Paradise Lost reference; the US publishers basically got a bit confused and attached the title, singular, to the first book. When they found out their mistake they kept it anyway coz they liked it more.

In some way it actually makes more sense to name the first book after the Alethiometer in terms of fitting with the rest of the series. But it's still a stupid title since it's not a compass.


I'm with QT - I quite liked the film. I mean it had its flaws but also its strong points and had the building blocks for a strong trilogy. It was certainly better than the first two Harry Potter films and the second Narnia.

[Kanubis]

Ah, thanks for the clarification polishgenius.

I actually thought it was very well done as a single, stand-alone film. The girl playing Lyra did a good job. But yeah, just wish they'd set things up for the rest of the trilogy, or at least made it feasible.

[frookenhauer]

Jean-Claude Van tiam, on 05 February 2013 - 07:05 PM, said:

polishgenius, on 31 January 2013 - 07:26 PM, said:

There's absolutely no reason why a game-to-film adap can't be good, it's just they've not really been taken seriously by the industry.

100mil and Duncan Jones suggests that this one is being. A lot will depend on the writing though, obviously.

The most successful game to film adaptations are the Resident Evil films which have just had a fifth released recently I think. They dont pretend to be anything other than they are which is an attractive girl killing lots of increasingly horrible/deadly zombies.

I would also love to see an old world warhammmer style film (is there a Rome total war mod that allows me to play it like that?) but this could be good. Having never played WoW and only knowing it by reputation I would be skeptical though a respectable director and a significant budget could make it pretty good even as a standalone film.

I agree with polish, to date, almost all of the movies seem to have stories written, directed and acted by imbeciles with absolutely no love of the genre. It's a clear case of milking fans for their cash and the game industry is partly responsible for this, but I can hardly blame them, hollywood execs offering to make a film of their beloved game, they couldn't sign the papers quicker...validation of their work, whatever.

The resident evil movies have been passable at best and this is due to Milas obvious charms.

Lara croft and Doom were watchable to a point.

And let us not forget prince of persia, the sands of time.

Everything else has been a waste.

I hope this is a turning point in the game to movie thingy. The game industry has a wealth of brilliant ideas waiting to be tapped.

Good director + a significant amount of money...Now all we need is a good lead and supporting actors, and a bloody good script. How can they possibly fuck this up?

[worry]

Don't forget, Saving Private Ryan was originally scripted as an adaptation of Worms Armageddon. They lost the rights but it kept basically the same structure.

[Silencer]

polishgenius, on 05 February 2013 - 08:06 PM, said:

Kanubis, on 05 February 2013 - 01:09 PM, said:

Silencer, I think that Northern Lights was actually published as The Golden Compass in North America because they didn't think enough Americans would be familiar with the Northern Lights for it to spark interest.

Not quite. The trilogy's working title was 'The Golden Compasses', also a Paradise Lost reference; the US publishers basically got a bit confused and attached the title, singular, to the first book. When they found out their mistake they kept it anyway coz they liked it more.

In some way it actually makes more sense to name the first book after the Alethiometer in terms of fitting with the rest of the series. But it's still a stupid title since it's not a compass.


I'm with QT - I quite liked the film. I mean it had its flaws but also its strong points and had the building blocks for a strong trilogy. It was certainly better than the first two Harry Potter films and the second Narnia.

Thanks for beating me to that.

It also doesn't fit with the rest of the series, though. It's the His Dark Materials trilogy - and said "dark materials" are, in the order encountered, the Northern Lights, the Subtle Knife and the Amber Spyglass. The Alethiometer is not one of them and even then it's not a compass. That's what bugs me about the renaming. Moreso that almost nobody will get that. XD So yeah, I hate the original US publishers for stupidity/incompetence/sticking with their mistake, and to then go and run with it for the movie...ugh.

QuickTidal, on 05 February 2013 - 06:07 PM, said:

Silencer, on 05 February 2013 - 12:20 PM, said:

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Did we watch the same movie?! Now, I may be biased (it was a long time between reading the books and seeing the film), but the Golden Compass was an atrocious adaptation that should never have existed! Never mind that they screwed up from the outset by calling it "The Golden Compass" (NOT one of "His Dark Materials" - that would be the Northern Lights, and the correct title of the first book), but they essentially turned all the worldbuilding, character development, and plot setup from the first half of the book into a fifty-minute nonsensical montage! And the second half was barely any better, with very little in the way of pacing or suspense, and the acting all around (apart from maybe Iorek...yes, the voice acting on the armoured bear was better than any of the human actors) was sub-par at best.

Indeed, and I agree with all your complaints about it...but still I wish it would have gone on to do thew other two books because doing the AMBER SPYGLASS at all would have meant that the anti-religious, original sin stuff would have been totally unavoidable for the studio...and I think that's why I accepted the stuff that they screwed up in the film version compared to the book. I knew that IF they got to it, THE AMBER SPYGLASS would have delivered the stuff we wanted from the Pullman story.

I felt like it was cast VERY well across the board, and while it should have been longer (and they should not have cut out the cliffhanger ending) to flesh out the stuff that was rushed...it had a good FEEL, and the nittering stuff that was bad could easily have been corrected in a second film. I dunno. It's not my fave film, or even the film I'd hoped it would be (obviously), but I felt that it was a solid effort (if shying massively away from the central theme of the books) which COULD have opened the door for the latter two volumes which are unarguably much more in your face about that theme. I guess that's what I mean.

I can still see its merits as a film on its own, and realize that it's a watered down version of the book...Pullman himself was quite fine with the adaptation for the same reasons...The first novel, THE NORTHERN LIGHTS, is far less about that central religious theme as it's been disguised in the world-building, and he saw that....he praised the acting and the pacing...and went on record as saying that the central religious theme really doesn't become apparent until the second book where Lyra is out of her element and realizes what her Daemon represents in Alt-realities, and they begin to piece together the involvement of these deities.

I agree I would still have liked them to go on and do the trilogy. I probably would have been dissatisfied with the overall product but at least there would have been some awesome stuff in the latter two films. I think if they had maybe not shied away from making the movies long-runners, too, it would have helped. Taken a bit more time and stretched them out, rather than condensing them to the point that the first one is...realistically adapting a book that length is not easy, and to get the setup right they needed an extra hour at least, imo.

And I think Pullman was just being diplomatic, honestly. XD To me it wasn't just watered down, it was gutted. And the acting was all-around a bit...lacking in chemistry? I guess is my main gripe with that. It was always going to be a tough film to adapt however, no argument there. And yes, if they announced the Subtle Knife tomorrow, I'd be moderately excited. XD (And I'll just have to disagree with Pullman completely about the pacing - the first 50 minutes are almost literally a montage of the first half of the book. That is NOT good pacing, considering how much time was spent there on numerous plot-relevant bits and bobs...but whatever)




Argh. Now I want to go and re-read the trilogy. Also, we're dragging this thread quite off-topic. O.o

[Gothos]

frookenhauer, on 05 February 2013 - 11:30 PM, said:

I agree with polish, to date, almost all of the movies seem to have stories written, directed and acted by imbeciles with absolutely no love of the genre. It's a clear case of milking fans for their cash and the game industry is partly responsible for this, but I can hardly blame them, hollywood execs offering to make a film of their beloved game, they couldn't sign the papers quicker...validation of their work, whatever.

The resident evil movies have been passable at best and this is due to Milas obvious charms.

Lara croft and Doom were watchable to a point.

And let us not forget prince of persia, the sands of time.

Everything else has been a waste.

I hope this is a turning point in the game to movie thingy. The game industry has a wealth of brilliant ideas waiting to be tapped.

Good director + a significant amount of money...Now all we need is a good lead and supporting actors, and a bloody good script. How can they possibly fuck this up?

Hmm... am I the only person here that still thinks that the first Mortal Kombat movie is a cult classic?

[QuickTidal]

Gothos, on 06 February 2013 - 12:49 AM, said:

Hmm... am I the only person here that still thinks that the first Mortal Kombat movie is a cult classic?

Me too! That movie is still all kinds of excellent!

[Kruppe's snacky cakes]

worrywort, on 05 February 2013 - 11:48 PM, said:

Don't forget, Saving Private Ryan was originally scripted as an adaptation of Worms Armageddon. They lost the rights but it kept basically the same structure.

That reference has earned you a holy hand grenade. (Sorry, I ran out of banana bombs.)

 British_Sovereigns_Orb.jpg (7.52K)
Number of downloads: 0

[frookenhauer]

QuickTidal, on 06 February 2013 - 12:06 PM, said:

Gothos, on 06 February 2013 - 12:49 AM, said:

Hmm... am I the only person here that still thinks that the first Mortal Kombat movie is a cult classic?

Me too! That movie is still all kinds of excellent!

Damn! I forgot about that one, yes it was fun, but a cult classic? that's a stretch .

That as when christopher lambert was still moderately cool for his highlander role, and him being cast as raiden was awesome at that time.

Liu Kang WINS