The Big Picture: The New Originals

[TransEquus]

While I am really hoping to see this, it is derivative:

1) Evangellion

2) Robot Jox http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102800/

Robot Jox was a terrible, horrible movie but the control scheme for the robots from Pacific Rim are stolen directly from it.

 

[TransEquus]

If Robot Jox is as good a Giant Robot movies as we are going to get, we should never make another giant robot movie again. That film was an abomination.

 

[PoolCleaningRobot]

I'm kinda surprised, I expected people to be complaining that Bob was encouraging originality for the sake of originality. I agree with him though, and I plan on seeing Pacific Rim with my friends when it comes out. Its getting ridiculous the amount of sequels and reboots in hollywood. We complain about it in video games but there are practically no movies coming out that aren't based on something, even if they are good

I almost feel asleep.

Not sure if genuine typo or cleaver Metal Gear joke

Spoiler

 

[theApoc]

Bravo Bob. Great OP ED piece.

 

[Count_A'ight]

This statement goes against what Bob was preaching but oh well. Everybody see Pacific Rim! Yeah it looks great and it has very positive buzz behind it but I'm seeing it for a different reason. If Pacific Rim does big business, Hollywood will scoop up any mech property that is ripe for a live action movie, like Gundam or Battletech or Robotech. Speaking of Robotech, Toby Maguire already bought the rights to live action Robotech, with plans to produce it. He got Lawrence Kasdan to write the script for the first movie. If Pacific Rim does good business, we will be seeing a live action Robotech soon after.

Has it occurred to anyone this in fact might be a terrible idea? Hollywood doing Robotech.
I mean it could be done anyone ever see Robo Jox. It's as good to a giant robot movie as your ever gonna get guys.

Ever.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot_Jox

Oh I agree that Hollywood would probably screw up a Robotech movie. Battletech/Mechwarrior would best work as a series...and not the semi-crappy cartoon they made a while back. A serious take on Mechwarrior would be like Game of Thrones with giant robots.

Robot Jox was awesome when I was a kid. It is appalling now. Seriously, Alexander's mech at the end had a chainsaw dick. That sounds awesome, but it is not. Though Robot Wars made Robot Jox look like a masterpiece.

 

[Smurf McSmurfington]

YES! A great big stonking YES to this. YES!!!!!

 

[Sir Shockwave]

Elysium? Isn't that just another class disparity movie? Am I missing something?

Depends if you liked District 9 or not. You may also have had to survive the tedious agony that is In Time.

OT: You mention stagnation and regurgitation and then bring up The World's End? Simon Pegg being Simon Pegg in yet another Simon Pegg Movie isn't regurgitation?

Though you'll be happy to hear I'm going to be seeing Pacific Rim with my Father. Booking the tickets however has been nightmarish. I have a suspicion it's not going to be shown anywhere near us.

To sign off in four words - "Fuck you Odeon Cinema" X3

 

[Redd the Sock]

Bob, the only off putting thing I've had with Pacific Rim was your overselling it. It's past the point of tedious.

Though as others have said, slapping a new title on an old set of tropes does not originality make. I've been into anime long enough to see even the deconstructions become dated so to me it remains to be seen if I'm getting the biggest budget power rangers fight ever using G-Gundam tech, or if I'm going to want to go home to watch Godannar again.

 

[Darth_Payn]

I planned on seeing Pacific Rim no matter what Bob said. So wait, I thought Bob thought Man of Steel was merely OK overall? Then again, That Lone Ranger screenshot reminded me of his Pirates of the Caribbean 4 review, and I saw it anyway, and liked it.

 

[Drauger]

I'm not paying to see this movie, I don't know if the movie is good or bad, but just watching the trailers makes me scream "EVANGELION RIP OFF!!!!" and well I can't see it , I won't enjoy it.

It bothers me A LOT that movie bob is calling this thing a new ip, something "fresh" I mean, probably for hollywood movies is "kind of new" but come on .... it is ripping Evangelion even in the poster

And as I saw the trailer it keeps ripping more and more, sorry I just ugh .... it's not original ok?

Then the fact that del toro is directing it makes it even worse, the only movie in wich I have fallen sleep in a cinema is hellboy, yeah i know a lot of people liked it, but I just don care for del toro directing.

 

[wearesoneutralthatithurts]

I was looking for a good analogy to convince my girlfriend to see this with me. Evangelion live action with no whiny emo teen lead? Yes please.

Nice to know I wasn't the only one getting this vibe. I was kind of wondering if someone had seen the idea for the (now scrapped?) live action Eva movie and decided to make an expy of it.

yeah. was the first thing i saw-i saw the kanji , i thought "angels" i saw the mecha, though-well, mecha. one looks a bit like eva 01 with this round thing on the head.
the sounds, some scenes looked like evangelionreal action movie.

well, i love eva, i like del toro (pans labyrinth <3)so i might watch this.. the last time i was in cinema was.. hmn i dont know, the alice in wonderland by burton(which sadly sucked)..so 3 years ago..

 

[PedalTank]

... Yes. I wonder if bob (now after watching the film) still feels the same, coz the reviews so far are not to complementary.

Not sure where you got that. Has a 85% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

 

[TwistedEllipses]

I can see this discussion devolving into what constitutes 'original'. Technically nothing is as everything is based on stuff that came before it. It's just the amount of sources and their popularity that change. However, I get what Moviebob is saying and he's really asking for more variation, not suggested these films were pulled from the ether...

 

[synobal]

I can't be the only person who isn't super excited about pacific rim, I might go see it but honestly, other than all the buzz that I've seen on the sites I frequent I haven't so much as clicked on a trailer for. Giant Robots, fighting giant monsters just seems so very very boring to me. Isn't that something that a jillion billion anime, books, and such has already done?

I get what Movie Bob says by original but I just can't get excited for the whole monsters vs giant robots. Maybe it's my inner nerd but the whole monsters vs giant robots seems like a bad idea. I'd just build a giant death ray, put it in orbit and then when ever a monster sticks his head out of his hidey hole I'd blast him. No muss no fuss, no annoying teenage robot pilots.

 

[mlooshka]

Eh... I get you, Bob. I really, really do. But what I hate about this is that I, a member of the British viewing public (which, let's face it, the Hollywood system has a low opinion of already - see the official response to the poor box office of "Epic") should bear the brunt of creative decisions based on my purchase of a £8($12) ticket on opening night (making a movie date for two cost more than a DVD purchase) just because the studios can't get their heads around a system by which nothing other than opening weekend sales count towards future decision making.

When I make the (quite literally, in the philosophical sense) rational choice to just wait to buy the DVD and watch it on my huge bloody flatscreen that I bought from the same parent corporation, I'm somehow the bad guy because I didn't express my support for originality in precisely the one exact way that the studio might, on a good day, listen to.

The whole damn system is wrong (insert Simpsons gif here)

 

[Terminal Blue]

It bothers me A LOT that movie bob is calling this thing a new ip, something "fresh" I mean, probably for hollywood movies is "kind of new" but come on .... it is ripping Evangelion even in the poster

And then, Evangelion is a "rip-off" of earlier mecha anime, not to mention countless Kaiju films.

Except of course it's not, it's a deliberate attack on the overt militarism in certain strains of mecha anime (most notably the various Gundam properties). Hence that weird ending which pissed a lot of people off, it did so on purpose.

See, you can borrow an idea and add your own spin on it. In fact, that's kind of what Hollywood does most of the time.

Are you sure that, rather than identifying a rip-off, you're not just spotting a reference to a cult classic. Maybe, rather than some evil outsider stealing your precious special genres for their own, someone actually set out to make a film which referenced things they like and which you also like, with visual clues which you would notice and pick up on and possibly get some kind of smug enjoyment out of because you noticed something which would go over the head of the "average moviegoer".

Sorry, I just don't get how it disrupts your enjoyment, particularly since its potential success will probably lead to more films of genres you like.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Ok Bob, I'll give Pacific Rim a chance if I can find the time to go see it.

 

[RJ Dalton]

When I want originality and newness, I read books. When I want painfully flat, badly slapped together, regurgitated bullshit, I beat myself over the head with a stick until it knocks some sense into me and then I go read another book. The times when I go see a movie in theaters are rare occasions and while I did love The Faun's Labyrinth and I consider Del Toro a very talented director, somehow I think I'll pass on this one. At least until it's at the cheaper theaters.