PooterGeek

11 Comments

1. Eric
   Posted 18Sep04 at 08:38 | Permalink

   Could you post a list of when you are going to see films? If I had read this last week I would have saved myself £3.75. I even fell asleep at one point.

   It should win a prize for the most ridiculous use of Nazis on celluloid.

2. casualsavant
   Posted 18Sep04 at 09:15 | Permalink

   Argh! I should’ve warned you to save your money, D. Total waste of time. I wouldn’t even pay for the pirated version.

3. Michael Brooke
   Posted 18Sep04 at 10:57 | Permalink

   I haven’t seen either of them, but the critical reaction is easily explained just by looking at the credits: Hellboy was directed by a recognised auteur (and one who alternates between big-budget blockbusters and small, intimate pieces like Cronos and The Devil’s Backbone, making him even more of a critical darling), while The Chronicles of Riddick wasn’t.

   The utter absurdity of this approach is that it assumes the director of a $100 million blockbuster actually has much creative clout beyond physically making the thing and sticking to schedule - with very few exceptions (Tim Burton springs to mind, and he’s been badly off the boil of late), these are not vehicles for personal expression or statements of any kind of artistic credo.

4. casualsavant
   Posted 18Sep04 at 11:55 | Permalink

   I’ll add that the “Hellboy” movie is also an insult to the comic. Not that I enjoyed the comic book much, but I just wince at what this guy could do to John Constantine or Lobo.

   “Daredevil” on the other hand, was a fun ride just as the comic book is… unfortunately, I think it was a casualty of the anti-Ben Affleck sentiment. It wasn’t a great movie, but I didn’t resent every minute I was in the cinema either.

5. PooterGeek
   Posted 18Sep04 at 12:02 | Permalink

   “the critical reaction is easily explained just by looking at the credits”

   As we sat in the cinema at the end of the film, dazed with disappointment, and the director’s name appeared, that’s exactly what I thought.

   Remember when everyone agreed that Pitch Black was crap? Now it’s an “under-rated low-budget horror classic”. You can bet in ten years that history will have been rewritten and the critical consensus on Riddick and HellBoy will have flipped perfectly—“We have always been at war with HellBoy…”

6. PooterGeek
   Posted 18Sep04 at 12:05 | Permalink

   “‘Daredevil’ on the other hand, was a fun ride just as the comic book is… unfortunately, I think it was a casualty of the anti-Ben Affleck sentiment. It wasn’t a great movie, but I didn’t resent every minute I was in the cinema either.”

   Couldn’t agree more. I watched Daredevil over the Atlantic and it was a blast. One day, I hope, someone will do justics to The Dark Knight Returns.

7. casualsavant
   Posted 18Sep04 at 22:08 | Permalink

   Or Wonder Woman….

8. David Duff
   Posted 19Sep04 at 17:03 | Permalink

   I thought you should know that according to my Daily Mail (dread words!) there is a film on tonight called “Below” by the same director who directed that ‘Riddick’ film you’re all wittering on about.

   Also, given our host’s prediliction for ‘pulp fiction’, I note that Charles Cumming has just published his second book. His first featured a smart, morally ambiguous, metro 20/30 something who becomes entangled with MI6, called “A Spy by Nature”. Deeply cynical and hugely enjoyable, and with the sort of ‘hero’ that I suspect many contributors to this page will identify with. Highly recommended, but then again, I am a Daily Mail man!

9. jeet
   Posted 20Sep04 at 04:25 | Permalink

   I just wince at what this guy could do to John Constantine

   Too late.

   Well, not “this guy” per se but you get the idea.

10. casualsavant
    Posted 20Sep04 at 07:54 | Permalink

    AUGH!!! How can they put Keanu Reeves as Constantine?! He thinks that looking constipated approaches an expression of angst. Jeet, ignorance was bliss, but now you’ve shattered that, haven’t you?

11. PooterGeek
    Posted 20Sep04 at 13:02 | Permalink

    Hello, Jeet. I’ve noticed your ‘Blog on the roll at Norm’s place and hadn’t gone any further than thinking, “Cool name”. I had a read this morning and I enjoyed it.